Out of 10 contestants, six are to be selected for the final round of a competition - HSC - SSCE Mathematics Extension 1 - Question 10 - 2020 - Paper 1
Question 10
Out of 10 contestants, six are to be selected for the final round of a competition. Four of those six will be placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.
In how many ways can th... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Out of 10 contestants, six are to be selected for the final round of a competition - HSC - SSCE Mathematics Extension 1 - Question 10 - 2020 - Paper 1
Step 1
Selecting 6 contestants from 10
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Answer
To select 6 contestants out of 10, we use the combination formula:
inom{n}{r} = rac{n!}{r!(n - r)!}
where n is the total number of contestants (10) and r is the number selected (6).
Thus, the number of ways to select 6 contestants is:
inom{10}{6} = rac{10!}{6!4!} = 210
Step 2
Arranging 4 placement spots
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Answer
Once the 6 contestants are selected, we need to arrange 4 of them into specific positions (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th).
The number of ways to arrange 4 contestants from 6 is given by the permutation formula:
P(n, r) = rac{n!}{(n - r)!}
In this case, it is:
P(6, 4) = rac{6!}{(6 - 4)!} = rac{6!}{2!} = 360
Step 3
Total number of arrangements
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Answer
To find the total number of ways to carry out this process, we multiply the number of selections by the number of arrangements: