2006 AIME A Problems/Problem 4
Problem
Let be a permutation of
for which
![$a_1>a_2>a_3>a_4>a_5>a_6 \mathrm{\ and \ } a_6<a_7<a_8<a_9<a_{10}<a_{11}<a_{12}.$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/7/1/4/714f8aaced4000d779337cb9bddced3aff9ed3e7.png)
An example of such a permutation is Find the number of such permutations.
Solution
Clearly, . Now, consider selecting
of the remaining
values. Sort these values in descending order, and sort the other
values in ascending order. Now, let the
selected values be
through
, and let the remaining
be
through
. It is now clear that there is a bijection between the number of ways to select
values from
and ordered 12-tuples
. Thus, there will be
such ordered 12-tuples.