54.8k views
3 votes
An Earth scientist is testing how vanous soil mixtures affect plant growth. She begins with 10 soil types. For each mixture, she combines equal amounts of 2 sod types. How many soil mixtures must the scientist create in order to test all possible combinations of the 10 soil types?​

User Diversity
by
8.3k points

1 Answer

3 votes

The correct answer to my knowledge would be 45.

Assuming that the 10 soils are each represented by A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J.

A can combine with 9 others as: AB AC AD AE A F AG AH AI AJ

B can combine as: BC BD BE BF BG BH BI BJ

C as: CD CE CF CG CH CI CJ

D as: DE DF DG DH DI DJ

E as: EF EG EH EI EJ

F as: FG FH FI FJ

G as: GH GI GJ

H as: HI HJ

I as: IJ

Once you add all the combinations together, you get 45.

Hoping this helped you!

User Kombuwa
by
8.3k points
Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.