Several children were playing in the ugly tree when suddenly they all fell.
Roger hit branches , , and in that order on the way down.
Sue hit branches , , and in that order on the way down.
Gillian hit branches , , and in that order on the way down.
Marcellus hit branches , , and in that order on the way down.
Juan-Phillipe hit branches , , and in that order on the way down.
Poor Mikey hit every branch A through on the way down. Given only this information, in how many different orders could he have hit these 9 branches on the way down?
Solution
To solve this problem, we need to determine the number of different orders in which Mikey could have hit the branches through while satisfying the given constraints. We will use the inequalities derived from the order in which each child hit the branches.
1. Derive Inequalities:
- Roger:
- Sue:
- Gillian:
- Marcellus:
- Juan-Phillipe:
2. Combine Inequalities:
From the given inequalities, we can combine them to form a single chain of inequalities:
- From Roger and Gillian:
- From Sue and Juan-Phillipe:
- From Marcellus:
Combining these, we get:
and
3. **Insert , , and into the Chain:**
We need to insert , , and into the chain while maintaining the order constraints.
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4. Case Analysis:
We will analyze different cases based on the position of and .
**Case 1: **
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For :
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For :
- can be placed in 4 positions: before , before , before , or before .
Combining these, we get:
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Total for this case: ways.
**Case 2: **
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For :
- can be placed in 3 positions: after , after , after .
For :
- can be placed in 4 positions: before , before , before , before .
Total for this case: ways.
**Case 3: **
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For :
- can be placed in 6 positions: directly after , directly after , directly after , directly after , directly after , directly before .
Total for this case: ways.
5. Summing Up:
Summing the number of ways from all cases: