Simon is creating a flower arrangement. A client asked him to select 4 of the 7 available flower options to create the arrangement.How many different groups of 4 flowers can Simon choose?
Q. Simon is creating a flower arrangement. A client asked him to select 4 of the 7 available flower options to create the arrangement.How many different groups of 4 flowers can Simon choose?
Identify problem type: Identify the type of problem. Simon is choosing 4 flowers out of 7 without regard to order, which is a combination problem.
Use combination formula: Use the combination formula to calculate the number of different groups. The combination formula is C(n,k)=k!(n−k)!n!, where n is the total number of items to choose from, k is the number of items to choose, and “!“ denotes factorial.
Plug values into formula: Plug the values into the combination formula. Here, n=7 (total flower options) and k=4 (flowers to choose).C(7,4)=4!(7−4)!7!
Calculate factorials and simplify: Calculate the factorials and simplify the expression.7!=7×6×5×4×3×2×14!=4×3×2×1(7−4)!=3!=3×2×1C(7,4)=(4×3×2×1)×(3×2×1)7×6×5×4×3×2×1
Cancel out common terms: Cancel out the common terms in the numerator and the denominator.C(7,4)=3×2×17×6×5
Perform calculation: Perform the calculation.C(7,4)=3×27×6×5C(7,4)=17×5C(7,4)=35