Problem #PRU-5145

Problems Discrete Mathematics Combinatorics

Problem

A group of schoolboys are going to walk down a narrow path in a straight line, one behind the other. There are \(11\) boys, and among them are Will, Tom, and Alex. If exactly two of them walk directly next to each other, they will start arguing. But if the three of them are all next to each other, in any order, the third one will always break the argument of the other two. We don’t want any arguments to persist. How many ways are there to order all \(11\) boys?