Question

There are four wires which need to be attached to a circuit board. A robotic device will attach the wires. The wires can be attached in any order, and the production manager wishes to determine which order would be fastest for the robot to use. Use the multiplication rule of counting to determine the number of possible sequences of assembly that must be tested. (Hint: There are four choices for the first wire, three for the second wire, two for the third wire, etc. Enter an exact number.)

Answer 1

Answer: There are 24 possible sequences of assembly.

Step-by-step explanation:

Since we have given that

Number of wires which need to be attached to a circuit board = 4

We need to find the number of possible sequences of assembly that must be tested.

Using multiplication rule of counting we get that,

Number of possible sequences of assembly is given by

$4!\\\\=4\times 3\times 2\times 1\\\\=24$

i.e. there are four choices for the first wire, three choices for the second wire, two choices for the third wire, one choice for the fourth wire.

Hence, there are 24 possible sequences of assembly.