Question

At the end of the day, a bakery gives everything that is unsold to food banks for the needy. If it has 12 apple pies left at the end of a given day, in how many different ways can it distribute these pies among 6 food banks for the needy?

Answer 1

462 ways

Explanation:

The formula to use in solving this problem is given as the Combination formula

The Combination formula is given as

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

We are told that a food bakery has 12 pies unsold at the end of the day which they intend to share to 6 food banks

n = 12, r = 6

In order to ensure that at least 1 food bank gets 1 pie, we have:

n - 1 = 12 - 1 = 11

r - 1 = 6 - 1 = 5

Hence,

C(11, 5) = 11C5

= 11!/ 5! ×(11 - 5)!

= 11!/5! × 6!

= (11 × 10 × 9 × 8 × 7 × 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1)/ (5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1) ×( 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1)

= 462 ways