Question

At a wedding reception, the bride and groom and eight attendants will form a receiving line. How many ways can they be arranged in each of following cases?

Answer 1

Explanation:

A. In this case, they can be arranged at any order. Since there are 7 people all in all, therefore the number of arrangements is:

number of arrangements = 7P7 = 5040 ways

B. In this case, only the 5 people can be arranged in any order therefore 5P5. However the groom and bride can be interchanged on 2 places, therefore:

number of arrangements = 5P5 * 2 = 240 ways

C. In this case, only the 5 people can be arranged in any order while the groom and bride can no longer be interchanged, therefore:

number of arrangements = 5P5 = 120 ways