Question

A bag contains 17 counters all of different colours. Colin chooses one counter and gives it to Obi, and another counter and gives it to Zeema. In how many ways can Colin do this?

Answer 1

Colin can do this is 272 ways.

Explanation:

The first counter goes to Obi and the second to Zeema, so the order is important. This means that we use the permutations formula to solve this question.

Permutations formula:

The number of possible permutations of x elements from a set of n elements is given by the following formula:

`P_((n,x)) = (n!)/((n-x)!)`

In this question:

Two counters from a set of 17. So

`P_((17,2)) = (17!)/((17-2)!) = 272`

Colin can do this is 272 ways.