Brain Teaser in Excel

[Johnnie Q]

someone sent me this problem to be solved in excel, can
anyone help?

if you have 5 partners (A&1, B&2, C&3, D&4 and E&5) in how
many ways can the couples be arranged so that no partners
are together (i.e. you couldn't have A with 1 or B with 2
etc...)? presume A, B, C, D and E are all males and 1, 2,
3, 4 and 5 are all females therefore, only males and
females may couple up and A cannot go with 1, B cannot go
with 2, C cannot go with 3, D cannot go with 4 and E
cannot go with 5, how many combos?

thanks in advance
Johnnie

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

someone sent me this problem to be solved in excel, can
anyone help?

if you have 5 partners (A&1, B&2, C&3, D&4 and E&5) in how
many ways can the couples be arranged so that no partners
are together (i.e. you couldn't have A with 1 or B with 2
etc...)? presume A, B, C, D and E are all males and 1, 2,
3, 4 and 5 are all females therefore, only males and
females may couple up and A cannot go with 1, B cannot go
with 2, C cannot go with 3, D cannot go with 4 and E
cannot go with 5, how many combos?

thanks in advance
Johnnie

It sounds like a homework problem that "someone" should be able to do in his or
her head.

But think about the number of possible combinations where each male can be
paired with any of four females.


--ron