Question

There are $15$ gymnasts in the Olympic women's competition, including $4$ Americans. The gold medal goes to first place, silver to second, and bronze to third. In how many ways can the medals be awarded to three of the $15$ gymnasts, if exactly one of the Americans wins a medal?

Answer 1

There are 220 ways by which the medals can be awarded to three of the 15 gymnast, if exactly one of the Americans wins a medal

Explanation:

From the question, we have;

The number of gymnast in the Olympic women's competition = 15

The number of the gymnast who are Americans = 4

The number of medals awarded = 3 medals

The number of ways hat the medals can be awarded to the three of the gymnast if exactly one of the Americans wins a medal is given as follows;

The number of ways one of the medals can be won by one of the four Americans = ₄C₁ = 4 ways

The number of ways the other two medals can be won by the remaining 11 gymnast = ₁₁C₂ = 55 ways

Therefore, the total number of ways, 'N', the medals can be awarded to three of the 15 gymnast, if exactly one of the Americans wins a medal is given as follows;

N = ₄C₁ × ₁₁C₂

∴ N = 4 × 55 = 220