BTGmoderatorLU wrote:Source: Magoosh
A librarian has a set of ten books, including four different books about Abraham Lincoln. The librarian wants to put the ten books on a shelf with the four Lincoln books next to each other, somewhere on the shelf among the other six books. How many different arrangements of the ten books are possible?
A. 10!/4!
B. 4!*6!
C. 4!*7!
D. 4!*10!
E. 4!*6!*10!
Since the 4 Lincoln books must be side-by-side, place them in a BLOCK:
[L�L₂L₃L₄].
Consider this 4-book block a single element to be arranged with the other 6 books.
The number of ways to arrange the Lincoln block and the other 6 books -- a total of 7 elements -- is 7!.
Since the 4 books within the Lincoln block can swap positions, we multiply by the number of ways the 4 books within the Lincoln block can be arranged (4!):
4!7!.
The correct answer is
C.
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