CIRCULAR PERMUTATIONS AND DERANGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT 1

CIRCULAR PERMUTATIONS AND DERANGEMENT

1. Find the number of ways in which seven persons can be arranged at a round table if two
particular persons may not sit together.
2. How many garlands of 6 flowers of different colors be made of 10 flowers of different colors?
3. In how many ways a team of 11 cricket players may sit on a round table so that captain, vice-
captain & wicket keeper are together.
4. Six chairs are evenly spaced around a circular table. One person is seated in each chair. Each
person gets up and sits down in a chair that is not the same and is not adjacent to the chair he or
she originally occupied, so that again one person is seated in each chair. In how many ways can
this be done?
5. Suppose 40 objects are placed along a circle at equal distances. In how many ways can 3
objects be chosen from among them so that no two of the three chosen objects are adjacent nor
diametrically opposite?
6. For each positive integer n, let an denote the number of n digit integers formed by some or all of
the digits 0,1,2 and 3 which contain neither a block of 12 nor a block of 21. Evaluate a9
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Solutions:
1. Find the number of ways in which seven persons can be arranged at a round table if two
particular persons may not sit together.
Answer: (480)

Solution:

Number of ways in which 7 persons can be arranged at a round table if two particular person
may not sit together

= Total arrangement – when two particular person are together

= ( 7 − 1) !− ( 6 − 1)!2!
= 6!− 5!2
= 720 − 240
= 480

2. How many garlands of 6 flowers of different colours be made out of 10 flowers of different
colors?
Answer: (12600)

Solution:

Given, 10 flowers and garland of 6 flowers has to be prepared

⸫ Number of ways

= 10C6 .
( 6 − 1)!
2
5!
= 10C6
2
= 12600

3. In how many ways a team of 11 cricket players may sit on a round table so that captain, vice-
captain & wicket keeper are together.
Answer: (241920)

Solution:

We want captain, vice-captain and wicket keeper to be together

Thus, assuming them as 1 and arrange with remaining 8 players

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⸫ Total number of ways

= ( 9 − 1)! 3!
= 8! 3!
= 241920

4. Six chairs are evenly spaced around a circular table. One person is seated in each chair. Each
person gets up and sits down in a chair that is not the same and is not adjacent to the chair he or
she originally occupied, so that again one person is seated in each chair. In how many ways can
this be done?
Answer: (20)

Solution:

To make the analysis easier, suppose first that everyone gets up and moves to the chair
directly across the table. The reseating rule now is that each person must sit in the same
chair or in an adjacent chair. There must be either 0, 2, 4, or 6 people who choose the same
chair; otherwise there would be an odd-sized gap, which would not permit all the people in
that gap to sit in an adjacent chair. If no people choose the same chair, then either everyone
moves left, which can be done in 1 way, or everyone moves right, which can be done in 1
way, or people swap with a neighbor, which can be done in 2 ways, for a total of 4
possibility. If two choose the same chair, then they must be either directly opposite each
other or next to each other; There are 3 + 6 = 9 such pairs. The remaining four people must
swap in pairs, and that can be done in just 1 way in each case. If four people choose the
same chair r, there are 6 ways to choose those people and the other two people swap.
Finally, there is 1 way for everyone to choose the same chair. Therefore, there are 4 + 9 + 6
+ 1 = 20 ways in which the reseating can be done.

5. Suppose 40 objects are placed along a circle at equal distances. In how many ways can 3
objects be chosen from among them so that no two of the three chosen objects are adjacent
nor diametrically opposite?

Solution:

One can choose 3 objects out of 40 objects in 40C3 ways. Among these choices all
would be together in 40 cases; exactly two will be together in 40 × 36 cases. Thus,
three objects can be chosen such that no two adjacent in 40C3 - 40 - (40 × 36) ways.
Among these, further, two objects will be diametrically opposite in 20 ways and the
third would be on either semicircle in a non-adjacent portion in 40 - 6 = 34 ways.
Thus, required number is
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6. For each positive integer n, let an denote the number of n digit integers formed by some or
all of the digits 0,1,2 and 3 which contain neither a block of 12 nor a block of 21. Evaluate
a9
Sol. 73368

For n ≥ 3, among the an such integers, let bn denote the number of those that end with1. By symmetry
the number of those that end with 2 is also equal to bn. Also the number of those that end with 0 or 3
are both an–1. Thus

a n = 2a n −1 + 2bn

Among the bn integers that end with 1, the number of those that end with 11 is bn–1 while the number
of those that end with 01 or 31 are both an-2. Thus

bn = bn–1 + 2an-2

Solving, we get a n = 3a n −1 + 2a n −2 .Since a1 = 3 and a 2 = 10 we get a 9 = 73368