Mahtab wrote:
Amy and Adam are making boxes of truffles to give out as wedding favors. They have an unlimited supply of 5 different types of truffles. If each box holds 2 truffles of different types, how many different boxes can they make?
I understand these are all the possible combinations:
Box 1: A B
Box 2: A C
Box 3: A D
Box 4: A E
Box 5: B C
Box 6: B D
Box 7: B E
Box 8: C D
Box 9: C E
Box 10: D E
But I don't get the mathematical interpretation of this.. 5! / (3! * 2!)
I don't get how the anagram can be "YYNNN"
You can think of it in 2 ways:
1. You have 5 different types of truffles. For each box, you have to select 2 different types of truffles. In how many ways can you do it?
5C2 = 5!/3!*2!
(When out of n things, you have to select r, you can do it in nCr ways. nCr = n!/r!*(n-r)!
2. There are 5 truffles. You need to select 2 and not select the rest of the three. Y - select a truffle. N - Do not select it
So you can select 2 truffles in the number of ways in which you can arrange YYNNN.
YYNNN means you select the first 2 and leave the rest.
YNYNN means you select 1st and 3rd and leave the rest.
etc...
This can be done in 5!/2!*3!
You can arrange 5 things in 5! ways. But you have 2 Ys and 3 Ns so you divide by 2! and 3!.
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