Final answer:
There are 63,504 different possible committees that can be formed from the 24 students in the class.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the number of different possible committees, we can use the concept of combinations.
Since there are 24 students in the class and the instructor wants to select a five-person committee, we can calculate the number of combinations possible.
The number of combinations of n objects taken r at a time is given by the formula:
C(n, r) = n! / (r! * (n - r)!)
Substituting the values, we get:
C(24, 5) = 24! / (5! * (24 - 5)!)
Calculating the factorials, we get:
C(24, 5) = 24! / (5! * 19!)
Simplifying, we get:
C(24, 5) = (24 * 23 * 22 * 21 * 20) / (5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1)
C(24, 5) = 24 * 23 * 22 * 21 * 4
C(24, 5) = 63,504
So, there are 63,504 different possible committees that can be formed from the 24 students.