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3 votes
You own 6 hats and are taking 2 on vacation. In how many ways can you choose 2 hats from the 6?

User Msam
by
5.7k points

1 Answer

4 votes

Answer: 15


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How to get this answer:


There are 6 ways to pick the first hat and then 5 ways to pick the next hat (since you can't pick the same hat again). Giving 6*5 = 30 ways to pick the two hats. Imaging drawing out a probability tree for this.


The value 30 would be the answer if order mattered, but it doesn't. If you label the hats A,B,C,D,E,F then picking hat A first and then hat C next is the same as picking C first and then A next. Order does not matter.


To correct things, we divide by 2. Why 2? Because we're double counting. So we go from 30 to 30/2 = 15.


User Slvn
by
4.9k points
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