Question

in an encyclopedia of language, the author presents five sentences that make a reasonable paragraph regardless of their order. the sentences are listed below.
mark had told him about the foxes.
john looked out of the window.
could it be a fox?
however, nobody had seen one for months.
he thought he saw a shape in the bushes.

in how many different orders can the five sentences be arranged?

Explanation:

Step1: Identify permutation type

We need to find the number of permutations of 5 distinct items, which uses the formula for factorial of \(n\), \(n! = n\times(n-1)\times\cdots\times1\) where \(n=5\).

Step2: Calculate the factorial

$$5! = 5\times4\times3\times2\times1$$
$$5! = 120$$

Answer:

120