Question

How many different ways can 4 people be seated around a circular table?

Answer 1

Hi!
When we find combinations the order of selecting objects is not important whereas in permutations the order of objects is important. So here we have to find permutations and there are 4 people and 4 chairs around the table. Following is the formula for calculating permutations. Here in our case  n=4 and r=4. Put values in this formula.

P ( n , r ) = n ! ( n − r ) !
P ( n, r ) =4! (4-4)!
             =4x3x2x1 (4-4)!
             =24(0)!
             =24 x 1
             =24      --Remember 0!=1 always.
So 4 people can be seated in 24 different ways around a circular table. 

Answer 2

The most it can be seated is 16 because of the value of 4 with 4 different odds 4*4 =16