Tim has an encyclopedia in 5 volumes: A–C, D–F, G–J, K–N, and O–Z. Other than alphabetically (ascending or descending), how many ways can these volumes be arranged?
Since there are 5 volumes to rearrange and the way to find the number of combinations to rearrange objects is by multiplying numbers that you count down from the original number (5 in this case) to 1, the problem is set up as 5×4×3×2×1. Now solve! 5×4×3×2×1 20×3×2×1 60×2×1 120×1 120 120 ways to rearrange the volumes.
