Question

Michael is packing his bags for his vacation. He has 6 unique toy animals, but only 5 fit in his bag. How many different groups of 5 toy animals can he take?

Answer 1

6 different groups of toy animals

Explanation:

The question above can be solved by applying the Combination technique

Combination technique uses the formula:

nCk = n! /k!(n-k)!

Where in the question above:

n = 6

k = 5

Therefore we have , 6C5

= 6! / 5! (6-5)!

= 6!/ 5!(1!)

6! = 6×5×4×3×2×1

5! = 5×4×3×2×1

Hence,

= (6×5×4×3×2×1) / (5×4×3×2×1)(1)

= 6

Hence, Michael can take 6 different groups of toy animals with him on his vacation.

Answer 2

6 different groups of toy animals

Explanation:

In this question, we are to calculate the number of different groups of toy animals Michael can take.

Since we are selecting, this is clearly a COMBINATION question. Now from the question, we are trying to select 5 toy animals from a group of 6 different animals to fit in the bag

The number of ways we can do this is 6C5 ways

Mathematically, if we have to select a number of r items from a group of n items, the number of ways this can be done is;

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

Using the case in the question, we have; 6!/5!(6-5)! = 6!/5!1! = 720/120 = 6 groups