Q. If the Math Olympiad Club consists of 16 students, how many different teams of 3 students can be formed for competitions?Answer:
Calculate Combinations Formula: To determine the number of different teams of 3 students that can be formed from 16 students, we need to calculate the combinations of 16 students taken 3 at a time. This is denoted as 16C3, which is the number of ways to choose 3 students from a group of 16 without regard to order.The formula for combinations is:nCr=r!×(n−r)!n!where n is the total number of items, r is the number of items to choose, and “160” denotes factorial.
Calculate Factorials: First, we calculate the factorial of 16, which is 16!=16×15×14×…×1.Next, we calculate the factorial of 3, which is 3!=3×2×1.Then, we calculate the factorial of (16−3), which is 13!=13×12×…×1.
Plug Values into Formula: Now we can plug these values into the combinations formula:16C3=3!×(16−3)!16!=3!×13!16!=3×2×1×13!16×15×14×13!The 13! in the numerator and denominator cancel each other out.
Perform Multiplication and Division: After canceling out 13!, we are left with:16C3=3×2×116×15×14Now we perform the multiplication and division:=616×15×14=3360/6=560
More problems from Compound events: find the number of outcomes