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A run of exactly four dogs at a round table

Question

Twelve animals, six dogs and six cats, are seated in a uniformly random arrangement around a circular table. What is the probability that somewhere around the table there is a block of exactly four consecutive dogs (flanked by cats on both sides)?

Short answer

1577\tfrac{15}{77}. Two such blocks would need 8 dogs, so count arrangements containing one pattern cat, 4 dogs, cat. Choose the flanking cats (6⋅56\cdot5) and the ordered dogs (6⋅5⋅4⋅36\cdot5\cdot4\cdot3), then arrange this unit with the other 6 animals around the circle (6!6! ways). Dividing by 11!11! gives 1577\tfrac{15}{77}.

Adapted from QuantQuestions.io; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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