Question

STATSS QUESTION!

The Florida Department of Transportation plans to develop a new section of interstate highway and receives 20 bids for the project. The state plans to hire five of the bidding companies. How many different combinations of five companies can be selected from the 20 bidding companies?

A. 15540
B. 15504
C. 1860480
D. 1860840

Answer 1

⇒ The formula for combinations:
nCr = n! / r!(n-r)! where n is the total number of items, r is the number of items to be selected, and ! denotes the factorial function

⇒ n = 20 (the total number of bidding companies) r = 5 (the number of companies to be selected)

⇒ combinations of five companies that can be selected from the 20 bidding companies is: 20C5 = 20! / 5!(20-5)! = (20 x 19 x 18 x 17 x 16) / (5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1) = 15,504


* ⇒ Hence there are 15,504 different combinations of five companies that can be selected from the 20 bidding companies.


Option B