Bunuel
Tough and Tricky questions: Combinations.
Six students - 3 boys and 3 girls - are to sit side by side for a makeup exam. How many ways could they arrange themselves given that no two boys and no two girls can sit next to one another?
A) 12
B) 36
C) 72
D) 240
E) 720
Since no two boys and no two girls can sit next to one another we can have the following arrangements:
B-G-B-G-B-G or G-B-G-B-G-B
We see that either arrangement can be selected in the following ways:
We have 3 options for the first boy, then 3 options for the first girl, then 2 options for a boy, 2 options for a girl, and then finally 1 option for each boy and girl.
This can be done in 3 x 3 x 2 x 2 x 1 x 1 = 36 ways.
Since the second arrangement can also be done in 36 ways, there are 36 + 36 = 72 possible ways of making the arrangement of no two boys and no two girls sitting next to one another.
Answer: C