At a conference table, 5 employees gather around a table. One of the

Question

At a conference table, 5 employees gather around a table. One of the employees is the manager and he sits at the head of the table. Two of the employees sit on either side of the table. How many different seating arrangements can be made with these five employees?

(A) 5
(B) 10
(C) 24
(D) 32
(E) 120

(A) 5
(B) 10
(C) 24
(D) 32
(E) 120

nahid78 · Answer

Head's sit is fixed. Now 4 people is left with 4 seats.

4 people can sit on 4 seats in 4! ways or 24 ways.

Ans is C

glatzekatze · Answer

Head is fixed, 4 people left, there are 4! ways to sit them => 24 => C

DharLog · Answer

It seems to me they want us to get confused.

'Two of the employees sit on  either  side of the table.' It means nothing in this case.
So what? It is the same as 4 workers and 4 seats. So 4! ways.

Two of the employees have to sit on one particular side of the table. Different meaning - different answer.
Two of the employees have to sit one next to another. Different meaning - different answer.

What is good. There are no answer options that suit to these conditions. So it is impossible to make mistake.

brandon7 · Answer

1 question & 1 point:

1) For regular employees, if we have 4 different employees and 4 seats, shouldn't it be 4 seats * 4 employees=16 to get number of combinations? I've definitely seen that before. Like if you have 5 food options and 4 drink options you have 5*4=20 choices.

2) I guess we are supposed to assume that M can only sit in one spot instead of their being 2 ends of a table. Seems a bit ambiguous.

Thank you.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Since the manager must sit at the head of the table, there are 4 chairs left. There are 4 choices for the first chair, 3 choices for the second, 2 choices for the third and 1 choice for the fourth. Therefore, the number of seating arrangement is:

4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 4! = 24

Answer: C

froppy · Answer

completely agree, I thought i was supposed to be locking two specific employees into the seats. poorly written question.

At a conference table, 5 employees gather around a table. One of the

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Problem Solving (PS) Questions

At a conference table, 5 employees gather around a table. One of the

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards