Skip to main content
OlympiadHQ

Browse · MATH

Print

jmc

counting and probability intermediate

Problem

The digits and can be arranged to form many different -digit positive integers with five distinct digits. In how many such integers is the digit to the left of the digit ? (The digits 1 and 2 do not have to be next to each other.)
Solution
For the first digit, we have 5 choices, then we have 4 choices left for the second digit, then 3 choices for the third digit, etc. So there are arrangements of the digits. Notice that for each arrangement with 1 to the left of 2, we can reverse the arrangement so that 2 is to the left of 1. For instance, flipping 31245 results in 54213. So by symmetry, exactly half of the arrangements have 1 to the left of 2. In integers, the digit 1 is to the left of the digit 2.
Final answer
60