Thread: Arrangements

There are 3 hangers and 5 shirts in a room. In how many ways, can these 5 shirts be arranged among the three hangers?


is it 5*4*3 or 3^5

Originally Posted by arunachalam.s

There are 3 hangers and 5 shirts in a room. In how many ways, can these 5 shirts be arranged among the three hangers?


is it 5*4*3 or 3^5

Assuming all shirts are distinguishable, 5^3.

If all the shirts are the same your answer should be 5^3
If all the shirts are different your answer should be 5*4*3

Because if you think about it like this... (i'm assuming all the shirts are different)

The first hanger, we have a choice of 5, the second one we lost 1 shirt hence we have from a choice of 4 and on the 3rd hanger we have 3 shirts left...

hence 5*4*3 choices

Originally Posted by Khonics89

If all the shirts are the same your answer should be 5^3
If all the shirts are different your answer should be 5*4*3

Because if you think about it like this... (i'm assuming all the shirts are different)

The first hanger, we have a choice of 5, the second one we lost 1 shirt hence we have from a choice of 4 and on the 3rd hanger we have 3 shirts left...

hence 5*4*3 choices

I've assumed that a hanger can have more than one shirt and all shirts have to be hung (or is that hanged ....? I guess it's hanged if the shirts are hawaiian ....)