The problem given is in the title:
In how many ways can $20$ persons be seated round a table if there are $9$ chairs?
I tried solving it as follows:
I can fix one person to one of $9$ chairs. I can select any one of $20$ for this. Now I need to permute $8$ out of remaining $19$. So total count $=20\times {}^{19}P_8=609493224800$
But given solution was:
We can select $9$ out of $20$ person in ${}^{20}C_9$ ways. Those $9$ persons can seat around circular table in $8!$ ways. So total count ${}^{20}C_9\times 8!=6772147200$
So where did I made mistake in my approach?
Best Answer
For each way:
One time you fix me (for example) and then sit other,
another time fix yourself and then sit other,
and so on for every of 9 person,
so you count every way 9 times!
Also after fixing first person,
sitting others from left of first person to his right isn't different from inverse direction,
so doesn't make new way,
but you count it!