Question

Five students and two teachers pose for a picture.in how many ways can they line up side by side for a picture. 2. In how many ways can they line up if they must have the teachers on both sides of the picture? 3.what is the probability that the two teachers occupy two of the three middle slots?

Answer 1

First, 5 students and 2 teachers is 7 different people. That means there are 7! Ways they can stand in a line. (7! Means 7x6x5x4x3x2x1)
That is 5040 ways.

Having the teachers on either side with the five students in the middle splits the question. There are 2 ways the teachers could stand (TA on left, TB on right or vice versa). There are 5! Ways to arrange the students in the middle. That is, 120. So combined, there are 2x120 ways to have them lined up with the teachers on either side. 240 ways.

Out of the 5040 ways for all of them to line up, one teacher will be in the middle 3 spaces 3/7 of the time. The second teacher will be on one of the remaining 2 central spaces 2/6 (1/3) of the time. 3/7x1/3 = 1/7. That means 1/7 or 14.29% of the time, the two teachers will occupy two of the three middle slots.