Question

Tom and John are to sit in a row of 9 seats with 7 other people. how many ways are there for the 9 people to sit if both Tom and John refuse to sit on an end seat?

Answer 1

Multiply those numbers together.
You start with 7 possible people to sit in the first seat, (9-Tom and John =7). That leaves 6 possible people for the last seat. And since 2 people are now gone, that leaves 7 for the 2nd seat, 6 for the 3rd seat, 4 for the 4th seat, etc.