Arrangement Restriction Theorem

The Arrangement Restriction Theorem is discovered by aops-g5-gethsemanea2 and is an alternative to the Georgeooga-Harryooga Theorem.

Definition

If there are $n$ objects to be arranged and $k$ of them should not be beside each other altogether, then the number of ways to arrange them is $n! - (n - k + 1)!k!$.

Proof/Derivation

If there are no restrictions, then we have $n!$. But, if we put $k$ objects beside each other, we have $(n-k+1)!k!$ because we can count the $k$ objects as one object and just rearrange them.

So, by complementary counting, we get $n! - (n - k + 1)!k!$.