Question

If you know the names of the remaining nine students in the spelling​ bee, what is the probability of randomly selecting an order and getting the order that is used in the spelling​ bee? ​p(selecting the correct spelling bee ​order)equals nothing

Answer 1

The probability of getting the correct order in the spelling bee is 1 chance in 362,880.

This is a permutation problem. Our goals is to find the total number of ways that the 9 students can be ordered.

For the first spot there are 9 choices, then 8 choices, then 7 choices....

We need to evaluate:
9 x 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 362,880

Another way to write this is: 9!