• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

circular perms Q (1 Viewer)

jst.KP

New Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Messages
15
Gender
Female
HSC
2010
There are two distinct round tables, each with five seats. In how many ways may a group of 10 peoplebe seated?
 

lychnobity

Active Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2008
Messages
1,292
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2009
There are two distinct round tables, each with five seats. In how many ways may a group of 10 peoplebe seated?
Answer: 2C1 x 10C5 x 4! x 2

Explanation: 2C1 to choose a table, 10C5 to choose the 5 people on that table, 4! to arrange them, and 2 because they can swap tables (ie say they chose table A at first, and now all those people want to go to table B)
 

Drongoski

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Messages
4,255
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
There are two distinct round tables, each with five seats. In how many ways may a group of 10 peoplebe seated?
Is answer: 2 x {10C5 x 4! + 4! } ??

prob making a fool of myself!

Edit: ought to be 2 x {10C5 x 4! x 4!}

Perhaps still wrong
 
Last edited:

Drongoski

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Messages
4,255
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
I thought after filling table-1, u have 5 persons left who can fill table-2 in (5-1)! ways. u double swapping tables. But I'm always nervous doing combinatorics; easy to overlook something.

Edit:

lychnobity

when u alerted me it stilll didn't dawn on me '+' should have been 'x'
 
Last edited:

Timothy.Siu

Prophet 9
Joined
Aug 6, 2008
Messages
3,449
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
tim has the right answer except he has to times it by 2
hmm it could be that.

or i did a mistake in my calculation,
can someone answer this, if u have 10 guys and ur seating 5 of those on a table wats the number?
is it 10x9x8x7x6/5 ? because if it is, thats wat i did wrong
 

gurmies

Drover
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
1,209
Location
North Bondi
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
hmm it could be that.

or i did a mistake in my calculation,
can someone answer this, if u have 10 guys and ur seating 5 of those on a table wats the number?
is it 10x9x8x7x6/5 ? because if it is, thats wat i did wrong
10C5 x 4!

Selecting 5 guys from a possible 10 and then arranging around a table (5-1)!...Same as what you got there Tim..
 

undalay

Active Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2006
Messages
1,002
Location
Ashfield
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
10C5x4P4x4P4

From 10 make 2 distinct groups, the re-arrange each table.

On the right track?
 

gurmies

Drover
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
1,209
Location
North Bondi
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
10C5 x 4! x 4! was my expression :S Still the same answer, but is my reasoning legitimate? 10C5 ways to choose 5 people from 10, then 4! ways to arrange each at their table...
 

micuzzo

Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2008
Messages
489
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2009
10C5 x 4! x 4! was my expression :S Still the same answer, but is my reasoning legitimate? 10C5 ways to choose 5 people from 10, then 4! ways to arrange each at their table...

well im not sure... the question is dumb... firstly i would say that since its a circle u need to minus 1 ie (n-1)! so i wouldnt use 10

then it says they are distinct ... so i guess u can assume that it will be a permutation... but wats a distinct table, duz it mean that the tables are diff from each other or that they are the same but seating arrangements are diff

therefore

9P4 (for the table) x 4! (bcoz they can be arranged in 4 diff ways on the table) and x 2 (because there are two tables)

I think thats the right way... not sure though...
 

oly1991

Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
411
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2009
well im not sure... the question is dumb... firstly i would say that since its a circle u need to minus 1 ie (n-1)! so i wouldnt use 10

then it says they are distinct ... so i guess u can assume that it will be a permutation... but wats a distinct table, duz it mean that the tables are diff from each other or that they are the same but seating arrangements are diff

therefore

9P4 (for the table) x 4! (bcoz they can be arranged in 4 diff ways on the table) and x 2 (because there are two tables)

I think thats the right way... not sure though...
yeh thats what i thought it was
 
K

khorne

Guest
yeh thats what i thought it was
This is fine, but, as probably mentioned before:

10C5 ( choose 5 people) x 4! (arrange them) x 4! (arrange remaining 5)

so 252 x 4! x 4! = 145 152

However, guys, I don't agree with the method above, the permutations one...

I would do it as, 10! (each person can sit in each seat) however, because of the circles, there is one true position for every 5 cyclic positions, and there are tow tables, so 10!/5 and then /5 again (or 10!/25)

Personally the combinations one makes more sense to me, but whatever floats your boat.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top