a) In the first case, where there are no restrictions on the seating arrangement, the number of ways to seat 8 people in a row can be calculated using the factorial function. The factorial of a number is the product of all positive integers less than or equal to that number. Therefore, the number of ways to arrange 8 people is given by 8! (read as '8 factorial'), which is equal to 40,320.
b) In this case, persons A and B must sit next to each other. We can treat persons A and B as a single entity, so we have 7 entities to arrange: {AB, C, D, E, F, G, H}. Now, the number of ways to arrange these 7 entities is 7!. However, within the entity {AB}, persons A and B can be arranged in 2! ways. Therefore, the total number of arrangements is 7! * 2!. Using the factorial notation, we can write it as:
c) In this case, we have 4 men and 4 women, and no two men or two women can sit next to each other. Let's consider the arrangement of men and women separately.
For the 4 men, they must be seated in such a way that no two men sit together. This can be visualized as having 4 spaces between them where women can be seated. We can represent this arrangement as:
_M M M M _
The 4 men can be seated in these 5 spaces in 5! ways. However, within each group of men, they can be rearranged in 4! ways. Therefore, the total number of arrangements for the men is 5! * 4!.
Similarly, for the 4 women, they can be seated in the 4 remaining spaces in 4! ways.
To obtain the total number of arrangements, we multiply the number of arrangements for the men by the number of arrangements for the women:
d) In this case, there are 5 men who must sit next to each other. We can treat the group of 5 men as a single entity. Now, we have 4 entities to arrange: {M, M, M, M, M, ABCDEFGH}. The 4 entities can be arranged in 4! ways. However, within the group of 5 men, they can be rearranged in 5! ways. Therefore, the total number of arrangements is 4! * 5!:
e) In this case, there are 4 married couples, and each couple must sit together. We can treat each married couple as a single entity. Now, we have 4 entities to arrange: {AB, CD, EF, GH}. These 4 entities can be arranged in 4! ways. However, within each entity, the couples can be rearranged in 2! ways. Therefore, the total number of arrangements is 4! * 2! * 2! * 2! * 2!: