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UKMT Junior Kangaroo, 2025

Combinatorics Difficulty 1.0 Junior Find the answer United Kingdom

Millie's mother likes her to set the table with a knife on the right-hand side of the plate and a fork on the left-hand side. Starting with the arrangement in the diagram, what is the smallest number of times Millie needs to swap the positions of a knife and a fork in order to satisfy her mother?

(A) $1$ (B) $2$ (C) $3$ (D) $5$ (E) $6$

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