How many possible solutions for 6 wires?

Question

Imagine 2 sets of 6 wires. How would I find how many possible connections there are?

Every wire must be used to be considered a connection.

//1st set
ABCDEF
GHIJKL

//2nd set
ABCDEF
HGIJKL

//visual layout of situation
0 1
0 1
0 1
0 1
0 1
0 1

daroczig · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-14 14:07:12Z

up vote 5 down vote accepted

I am not sure what you meant by the sets of wires, but assuming you have two stacks of six pieces of wires, like:

Then A can be connected to 6 pieces (G,H,I,J,K,L), B to 5 (G,H,I,J,K,L except for one) and so on, so the answer could be 6!=720.

answered Jan 14 '11 at 14:07

daroczig
22617

I believe that's what we're looking for... what's the correct term for 6!? Like if I was to say it – bradenkeith Jan 14 '11 at 14:15

@bradenkeith - factorial, see e.g. on Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factorial) – daroczig Jan 14 '11 at 14:16

Awesome! Thank you! – bradenkeith Jan 14 '11 at 14:18

2

@Braden: Also look up permutations. – Aryabhata Jan 14 '11 at 17:13

1 Answer