On a shelf there are four Mathematics books and eight English books. How many ways can the books be arranged?
12! = 479001600
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What is the probability that all the Mathematics books will not be arranged together?
We will get the probability of the complement event -- the probability
of one of these 9 ways occurring where the math books are all together.
MMMMEEEEEEEE, EMMMMEEEEEEE, EEMMMMEEEEEE, EEEMMMMEEEEE, EEEEMMMMEEEE,
EEEEEMMMMEEE, EEEEEEMMMMEE, EEEEEEEMMMME, EEEEEEEEMMMM.
In each of those 9 ways the Math books can be arranged 4! ways and the
English books can be arranged 8! ways. The probability that they will be
together is
=
=
= 0.0181818182.
So the probability that they will NOT all be together is 1-
=
= .9818181818.
Edwin