in an encyclopedia of language, the author pr...

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? the five sentences can be arranged in different orders.

Answer

# Explanation: ## Step1: Recall permutation formula The number of permutations of \(n\) distinct objects is \(n!\). Here \(n = 5\) (the 5 sentences). ## Step2: Calculate 5 - factorial \(n!=n\times(n - 1)\times\cdots\times1\), so \(5!=5\times4\times3\times2\times1=120\). # Answer: 120