If you know the names of the remaining eight eight students in the spelling bee, what is the probability of randomly selecting an order and getting the order that is used in the spelling bee?
Assuming that there are 8 names that are going to be used for a random order;
First, let's try to figure out how many possible ways the names can be arrange:
=8 choices x 7 choice x 6 choices x 5 ... x 1 choice (if you select person A to go first, they cannot be second as well, so that is why 8 choices is multiplied by 7 instead of 8)
This can also be written as 8!
The specific way that a random set of names is chosen by you and actually chosen is 1. Each name has a specific order, in each term so there can only be one possible way.
