SnehaC wrote:
The first person on the committee can be anyone of the 8.
The second person on the committee can be only one out of 6 (the first person with her or his sibling excluded).
The third person can be selected only out of 4 (first two members and their siblings excluded), giving 8*6*4 permutations. These are called permutations because we count every distinct combination of 3 people 6 times (6=3!). For example, we count {Ann, Bill, and Jane} as {Ann, Bill, Jane}, {Ann, Jane, Bill}, {Jane, Ann, Bill}, {Jane, Bill, Ann}, {Bill, Ann, Jane}, {Bill, Jane, Ann}. To get the number of combinations, divide the number of permutations by 6: 8*6*4 / (6) = 32 combinations.
I understand uptil the last part but I don't understand why we're diving by 6? Can anyone clarify this for me?
We need to divide \(8*6*4=192\) by the factorial of the # of people - 3! to get rid of duplications \(8*6*4=192\) contains ---> \(\frac{192}{3!}=32\) - correct answer.
Consider example with smaller number: there are two couples and we want to choose 2 people not married to each other.
Couples: \(A_1\), \(A_2\) and \(B_1\), \(B_2\). Committees possible:
\(A_1,B_1\);
\(A_1,B_2\);
\(A_2,B_1\);
\(A_2,B_2\).
Only 4 such committees are possible.
If we do as proposed in the solution you posted:
The first person on the committee can be anyone of the 4.
The second person on the committee can be only one out of 2 (the first person with her or his sibling excluded).
So we'll get: 4*2=8, so more than 4, which means that 8 contains some duplications. And to get the right answer we should divide 8 by 2! --> 8/2!=4.
It's because if you pick A1 for the first pick and than pick B1 for the second you'll get the committee {A1, B1} but if you'll pick B1 for the first pick and then A1 you'll get the exact same committee {A1, B1} (dividing by the factorial of the # of people in committee you'll exclude this double countings).
Hope it helps.
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