Bunuel
Official Solution:
A deck of cards contains 6 cards numbered from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and to 6. If three cards are randomly selected one by one from the deck without replacement, what is the probability that the numbers on the cards are consecutive integers in increasing order?
A. \(\frac{1}{60}\)
B. \(\frac{1}{30}\)
C. \(\frac{1}{20}\)
D. \(\frac{1}{6}\)
E. \(\frac{1}{3}\)
The number of ways to choose 3 numbers out of 6 when order matters is \(P^3_6=\frac{6!}{3!}=6*5*4=120\);
The number of ways to get 3 consecutive numbers in increasing order is 4: {1, 2, 3}, {2, 3, 4}, {3, 4, 5} and {4, 5, 6};
The probability is therefore, \(\frac{4}{120}=\frac{1}{30}\).
Answer: B
Hi there!
BunuelIf the question did not mention consecutive numbers, just those in an increasing order, how would we go about that?
In this case, since three different numbers can be arranged in 3! = 6 ways, and only one of these arrangements is in ascending order, the answer would simply be 1/3! = 1/6.
20 favorable cases out of 120:
{1, 2, 3}
{1, 2, 4}
{1, 2, 5}
{1, 2, 6}
{1, 3, 4}
{1, 3, 5}
{1, 3, 6}
{1, 4, 5}
{1, 4, 6}
{1, 5, 6}
{2, 3, 4}
{2, 3, 5}
{2, 3, 6}
{2, 4, 5}
{2, 4, 6}
{2, 5, 6}
{3, 4, 5}
{3, 4, 6}
{3, 5, 6}
{4, 5, 6}