Circular Permutations

We have learned that the number of permutations of distinct objects on a straight line is . That is, if we seat
the four guests Anna, Barbie, Christian, and Dorcas, on chairs in on a straight line they can be seated in
ways (see complete list).

).

However, circular arrangement is slightly different. Take the arrangement of guests A, B, C, D as shown in the first
figure. The four possible seating arrangements are just a single permutation: in each table, the persons on the left
and on the right of each guest are still the same persons. For example, in any of the tables, B is on the left hand side
of A and D is on the right hand side of A. In effect, the four linear permutations ABCD, BCDA, CDAB, and DABC are as
one in circular permutation. This means that the number of linear permutations of 4 persons is four times its number
of circular permutations. Since the number of all possible permutations of four objects is 4!, the number of circular
permutations of four objects is .

This is also similar with circular permutations of three objects. Since the number of permutations of three objects is
, the number of circular permutations of three objects is .

The observation above can be generalized. Notice that the circular permutations in both figures are just the rotations
of the guests about the table. Rotating the guests without swapping their positions pairwise does not change the
permutation since the person the right and left of each person will still be the same person after the rotation. This
means that if there are 8 persons seated, they can be rotated 7 times giving us 8 possible seating arrangements
(includes the initial position). So, we have circular permutations of 8 guests.

In general, given number of objects, there are

circular permutations.

But

Simplifying the equation above, we have

Therefore, the number of circular permutations of objects is

Circular Permutations: Examples

Example 1 In how many ways can 6 people be seated at a round table?

Solution As discussed, the number of ways will be (6 – 1)!, or 120.

To the next..

Example 2 Find the number of ways in which 5 people A,B,C,D,E can be seated at a round table, such that

(i) A and B must always sit together.

(ii) C and D must not sit together.

Solution (i) If we wish to seat A and B together in all arrangements, we can consider these two as one unit, along
with 3 others. So effectively we’ve to arrange 4 people in a circle, the number of ways being (4 – 1)! or 6. Let me
show you the arrangements:

But in each of these arrangements, A and B can themselves interchange places in 2 ways. Here’s what I’m talking
about:

Therefore, the total number of ways will be 6 x 2 = 12.

(ii) The number of ways in this case would be obtained by removing all those cases (from the total possible) in
which C & D are together. The total number of ways will be (5 – 1)! or 24. Similar to (i) above, the number of cases
in which C & D are seated together, will be 12. Therefore the required number of ways will be 24 – 12 = 12.

Another example related to seating…

Example 3 In how many ways can 3 men and 3 ladies be seated at around table such that no two men are seated
together?

Solution Since we don’t want the men to be seated together, the only way to do this is to make the men and
women sit alternately. We’ll first seat the 3 women, on alternate seats, which can be done in (3 – 1)! or 2 ways, as
shown below. (We’re ignoring the other 3 seats for now)

Note that the following 6 arrangements are equivalent:

That is, if each of the women is shifted by a seat in any direction, the seating arrangement remains exactly the
same. That is why we have only 2 arrangements, as shown in the previous figure.

Now that we’ve done this, the 3 men can be seated in the remaining seats in 3! or 6 ways. Note that we haven’t
used the formula for circular arrangements now. This is so because, after the women are seated, shifting the each
of the men by 2 seats, will give a different arrangement. After fixing the position of the women (same as
‘numbering’ the seats), the arrangement on the remaining seats is equivalent to a linear arrangement.

Therefore the total number of ways in this case will be 2! X 3! = 12.