ABCDE is a regular pentagon with F at its center. How many different triangles can be formed by joining 3 of the points A, B, C, D, E and F?

A. 10
B. 15
C. 20
D. 25
E. 30

Choosing any 3 points out of the 6 available points will form a triangle. Hence this turns into a combination question.

Choose 3 points out of 6: 6c3=20

Regular pentagon is a pentagon where all sides are equal. In such pentagon center is not collinear to any two vertex, so ANY three points (from 5 vertices and center point) WILL form the triangle.

You wrote that ACF won't form the triangle because they don't lie on straight line - that's not true. EXACTLY because these three points DON'T lie on the straight line they WILL form triangle. (In your other example you stated that ABF will form the triangle, but these three points also aren't collinear).

The question basically asks how many triangles can be formed from the six points on a plane with no three points being collinear.

Hope it's clear.
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some body please clear this discrepancy

from 6 if we choose 3 , how do we denote it , all books and materials show this as 6C3

but here parrot man shows this as 6c3 and moderator shows this as 3c6 , leading me to becoming confused !!

according to me , the larger one goes at the top and the smaller sub group goes below

so from 6 if we choose 3 then 6C3.

so please if someone could confirm why is 3C6 denoted here , and does 3C6 mean the same as 6C3 ? are they same ?

so from n if if have to choose , 3 or 4 or 5 etc shouldn't it be nc3 , nc4 , nc5 etc .... Please clear my confusion
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You should explain the logic behind your approach.[/quote]


ABCDE, 5 vertices of pentagon, we can select any two vertices two form a line, 5C2 ways....

Now any of the 5C2 ways have only one way(As per question) to interact with a centre point F = 5C2 X 1 = 10 Ways.

Similar questions to practice:
http://gmatclub.com/forum/if-4-points-a ... 32677.html
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http://gmatclub.com/forum/abcde-is-a-re ... 33328.html
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http://gmatclub.com/forum/m03-71107.html
http://gmatclub.com/forum/how-many-tria ... 98236.html
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http://gmatclub.com/forum/how-many-circ ... 28149.html

Hope it helps.
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