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Combinatorics Difficulty 3.3 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

A permutation (a1,a2,a3,a4,a5)(a_1,a_2,a_3,a_4,a_5) of (1,2,3,4,5)(1,2,3,4,5) is heavy-tailed if a1+a2<a4+a5a_1 + a_2 < a_4 + a_5. What is the number of heavy-tailed permutations?

Pick one

Solution

There are 5!=1205!=120 total permutations.
For every permutation (a1,a2,a3,a4,a5)(a_1,a_2,a_3,a_4,a_5) such that a1+a2a4+a5a_1 + a_2 a_4 + a_5. Thus it suffices to count the permutations such that a1+a2=a4+a5a_1 + a_2 = a_4 + a_5.
1+4=2+31+4=2+3, 1+5=2+41+5=2+4, and 2+5=3+42+5=3+4 are the only combinations of numbers that can satisfy a1+a2=a4+a5a_1 + a_2 = a_4 + a_5.
There are 33 combinations of numbers, 22 possibilities of which side of the equation is a1+a2a_1+a_2 and which side is a4+a5a_4+a_5, and 22=42^2=4 possibilities for rearranging a1,a2a_1,a_2 and a4,a5a_4,a_5. Thus, there are 324=243\cdot2\cdot4=24 permutations such that a1+a2=a4+a5a_1 + a_2 = a_4 + a_5.
Thus, the number of heavy-tailed permutations is 120242=48D\frac{120-24}{2}=48 \Rightarrow D.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.