Question

A fancy bed and breakfast inn has $5$ rooms, each with a distinctive color-coded decor. One day $5$ friends arrive to spend the night. There are no other guests that night. The friends can room in any combination they wish, but with no more than $2$ friends per room. In how many ways can the innkeeper assign the guests to the rooms?

$2100$

$2220$

$3000$

$3120$

$3125$

Solution:

All singles: assign $5$ friends to $5$ rooms in $5!=120$ ways.

One pair: choose the pair in $\binom52=10$ ways, then place the $4$ groups into rooms in $5\cdot4\cdot3\cdot2=120$ ways, giving $10\cdot120=1200.$

Two pairs: choose the solo friend in $5$ ways and split the rest into two pairs in $3$ ways ( $15$ groupings), then place the $3$ groups into rooms in $5\cdot4\cdot3=60$ ways, giving $15\cdot60=900.$

The total is $120+1200+900=2220.$

Thus, the correct answer is B.

2014 AMC 12A Problem 13

Solution:

Problem 13 in Other Years