How many ways are there to choose three items from five without regard to order?

Enhance your understanding of Descriptive Statistics and Probability. Study with interactive questions and detailed explanations. Prepare effectively for your test!

Multiple Choice

How many ways are there to choose three items from five without regard to order?

Explanation:
When order doesn’t matter, you use combinations. This is the number of ways to choose 3 items from 5, written as 5 choose 3. The formula is 5!/(3!2!) = (5×4×3×2×1)/(6×2) = 120/12 = 10. Another way to see it is that choosing 3 to take is the same as choosing 2 to leave out, so 5 choose 2 = 10. Therefore, there are 10 possible selections.

When order doesn’t matter, you use combinations. This is the number of ways to choose 3 items from 5, written as 5 choose 3. The formula is 5!/(3!2!) = (5×4×3×2×1)/(6×2) = 120/12 = 10. Another way to see it is that choosing 3 to take is the same as choosing 2 to leave out, so 5 choose 2 = 10. Therefore, there are 10 possible selections.

Subscribe

Get the latest from Examzify

You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy