Final answer:
To select a committee of 7 people from a group of 15, we use combinations to calculate that there are 6435 ways to form the committee.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine how many ways a committee of 7 people can be selected from a group of 15 people, we use the concept of combinations. The formula combinations for selecting r individuals from a set of n without regard to the order is given by the binomial coefficient: C(n, r) = n! / (r! * (n - r)!).
Using the values from the question, we have:
- n = 15 (total number of people)
- r = 7 (number of people to select for the committee)
Thus, the number of ways to select the committee is:
C(15, 7) = 15! / (7! * (15 - 7)!)
= 15! / (7! * 8!)
= (15 * 14 * 13 * 12 * 11 * 10 * 9) / (7 * 6 * 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1)
= 6435 ways
So, there are 6435 ways to select a committee of 7 people from a group of 15.