How many ways can 5 people be seated in a row of 5 chairs?

How many ways can 5 people be seated in a row of 5 chairs?

Step 1: Understand that we have 5 people and 5 chairs.
Step 2: Realize that each person can sit in any of the chairs.
Step 3: For the first chair, we can choose any of the 5 people to sit there.
Step 4: After the first person sits down, we have 4 people left for the second chair.
Step 5: For the second chair, we can choose any of the remaining 4 people.
Step 6: After the second person sits down, we have 3 people left for the third chair.
Step 7: For the third chair, we can choose any of the remaining 3 people.
Step 8: After the third person sits down, we have 2 people left for the fourth chair.
Step 9: For the fourth chair, we can choose any of the remaining 2 people.
Step 10: Finally, for the last chair, there is only 1 person left to sit down.
Step 11: To find the total number of ways to arrange the 5 people, we multiply the number of choices for each chair: 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1.
Step 12: This multiplication gives us 120, which is written as 5! (5 factorial).

Permutations – The question tests the understanding of permutations, specifically how to arrange a set number of distinct items (people) in a specific order (chairs).