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In how many ways can a committee of 4 be chosen from a group of 9 people?

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Since this is a combination not a permutation problem, (order does not matter) you should use the "n choose k" formula.

C=n!/(k!(n-k)!) where C is the number of unique combinations, n equals the total number of possible choices and k equals the specific number of choices. In this case:

C=9!/(4!(9-4)!)

C=9!/(4!5!)

C=362880/(24*120)

C=362880/2880

C=126

So there are 126 unique ways to pick 4 people from a group of 9 people.
User Grammar
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2 votes

Answer:

126 ways.

Explanation:

Since the order does not matter, the solution is obtained through a combination where we choose "r of n", where r is the amount of things we choose and n the total number of things that can be chosen.

In the given case,

r = 4

n = 9

The combinations form uses factorial numbers. This is the formula:


nCr=(n!)/((n-r)! r!)

The factorial function (symbol:!) means that descending numbers are multiplied to 1.

We substitute the values in the equation and get


9C4=(9!)/((9-4)! 4!)


9C4=(9.8.7.6.5!)/(5! 4!)


9C4=(9.8.7.6)/(4!)


9C4=(9.8.7.6)/(4.3.2)


9C4=(3024)/(24)

9C4 = 126

Therefore, there are 126 ways to choose a committee of 4 from a group of 9 people.

Hope this helps!

User Rafi
by
8.1k points

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