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counting and probability senior
Problem
Let be the set of permutations of the sequence for which the first term is not . A permutation is chosen randomly from . The probability that the second term is , in lowest terms, is . What is ?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
Solution
The probability could be written as a fraction where . The total number of permutations is essentially , and the number of permutations where is the first number is , therefore the number of permutations in is . For the first number in the desired solution, there are 3 options (, , ). For the second number in the desired solution, there is only one option (). For the third number in the desired solution, there are 3 options (, and the numbers not used in the first digit). For the fourth number in the desired solution, there are 2 options (numbers not used in the third digit). For the last number in the desired solution, there is only one option (number not used in the fourth digit). Therefore, will be the number of desired outcomes. Finally, equates to , which is . The answer is then .
Final answer
E