MHB What are the different ways to place two objects in five slots?

AI Thread Summary
To determine the number of ways to place two identical objects in five slots, the correct approach is to use combinations rather than permutations, as order does not matter. The calculation shows that there are 10 unique ways to arrange the two objects, represented mathematically as N = {5 choose 2} = 10. This is derived from the formula for combinations, which accounts for the identical nature of the objects. If the objects were different, such as an x and a y, the total arrangements would increase to 20, reflecting the importance of order in permutations. Understanding these distinctions is crucial for accurately solving similar problems in combinatorics.
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I'm getting these concepts confused.

If I have an object called $x$, and I have five places or slots to put the object, how many ways could 2 $x$s be places in the 5 spaces?

Example:

x x _ _ _
x _ x _ _
x _ _ x _
x _ _ _ x
_ x x _ _
_ x _ x _
_ x _ _ x
_ _ x x _
_ _ x _ x
_ _ _ x x

So in this example there are 10 ways to place the $x$s (am I missing any?).

So would this be a combination with repetition, permutation or something else, and what formula can I use to calculate this?
 
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This would be a combination, since order doesn't matter. Here you are simply looking to find how many ways there are to choose 2 from 5:

$$N={5 \choose 2}=\frac{5!}{2!(5-2)!}=10$$

You have 5 choices for the first x and 4 choices for the second, and by the fundamental counting principle, this is $5\cdot4=20$ ways to place the two x's, but since the two x's are identical, then the order doesn't matter, so we have to divide by the number of ways to order the 2 x's which is $2!=2$, and so we find we have 10 different placements. If the two things you are placing into the 5 slots are different, say you are going to place an x and a y, then order would matter and there would be 20 permutations. :D
 
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