In how many ways can 9 people be seated if 3 chairs available?

Question

In how many ways can 9 people be seated if 3 chairs available?

2 Answers

Answer Question

Answer 1

If it is important which person is in which chair, then there are 9*8*7 = 504 ways to seat three of nine.

If order is not important, there are 504/(3*2*1) = 84 ways to choose three people to be seated.

Answer 2

Hi, sure two on a chair, some can sit on the floor, you could do away with the 3 chairs, and make everyone equal and they could all sit in imaginary chairs on the floor. You could put the chairs together and four of give people could sqeeze on, with others sitting on each others knee. That would be a laugh wouldn't it. You could form a circle around the chairs, and three people perch on the sides of one chair, then another three on two chairs and another on three chairs.... Is is impossible.....well let me know how you did it......