Question

:

Jamal, Gary, Charlie, and Brian are going to stand in a line, one behind the other. In how many different ways can they stand in the line?
a.24
b.16
C.10
d.4

Answer 1

24!

Explanation:

I will refer the people to A,B,C, and D

24 is the answer.

4 choices for the first position.

3 choices for the second.

2 choices for the third.

1 for the fourth.

4*3*2*1=24

Here it is listed out where a,b,c,d are the 4 people:

abcd

abdc

acbd

acdb

adbc

adcb

bacd

badc

bcad

bcda

bdac

bdca

cabd

cadb

cbad

cbda

cdab

cdba

dabc

dacb

dbac

dbca

dcab

dcba

(of course, this assumes that there is a direction to the line, or a 'front' and a 'back'. If direction doesn't matter then the answer is 12, since every combination above has a reverse. e.g., abcd and dcba. The list becomes:

abcd

abdc

acbd

acdb

adbc

adcb

bacd

badc

bcad

bdac

cabd

cbad