SOLUTION: Five students, all of different height are to be randomly arranged in a line, what is the probability that the tallest student will be the last in line

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Question 1108436: Five students, all of different height are to be randomly arranged in a line, what is the probability that the tallest student will be the last in line
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
There are 5*4*3*2*1 = 120 ways to arrange the five students regardless if the tallest person is in the back or not.

If we reserve that back slot in the line for the tallest person, then we have 4*3*2*1 = 24 different ways to arrange the four other students in the other four slots

Divide the two values: 24/120 = 1/5

The final answer is 1/5

A simpler way to see this is to simply ask yourself "what is the probability the student will land in the last slot?" without worrying about the other students at all.