Last visit was: 21 Apr 2026, 05:16 It is currently 21 Apr 2026, 05:16
Home
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
User avatar
mangamma
User avatar
Joined: 25 Dec 2018
Last visit: 12 Jul 2023
Posts: 505
Own Kudos:
1,870
 [33]
Given Kudos: 994
Location: India
Concentration: General Management, Finance
GMAT Date: 02-18-2019
GPA: 3.4
WE:Engineering (Consulting)
Posts: 505
Kudos: 1,870
 [33]
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 dif 10 May 2019, 08:48
9
Kudos
Add Kudos
24
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
00:00
Start Timer
Pause Timer
Resume Timer
Show Answer
Hide
Show
History
E
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

55% (hard)

Question Stats:

66% (01:51) correct 34% (02:02) wrong based on 616 sessions

History

Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 different positions in Technology team and 3 of the 7 candidates to work in the same position in HR team. Find the number of ways in which company can fill the positions?


A. 57
B. 65
C. 128
D. 256
E. 1050
ShowHide Answer
Official Answer
E
User avatar
MahmoudFawzy
User avatar
Joined: 27 Oct 2018
Last visit: 20 Feb 2021
Posts: 660
Own Kudos:
2,173
 [4]
Given Kudos: 200
Status:Manager
Location: Egypt
Concentration: Strategy, International Business
Schools: NTU '20 HKUST '21 Japan MBA
GPA: 3.67
WE:Pharmaceuticals (Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals)
Schools: NTU '20 HKUST '21 Japan MBA
Posts: 660
Kudos: 2,173
 [4]
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 dif 10 May 2019, 10:35
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
2
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
for the two different positions: 6C2 * 2! = 15*2 = 30
for the three same positions : 7C3 = 35

so number of ways = 30*35 = 1050

E
(I think the difficulty relies in confusing to add instead of multiply)
User avatar
KarishmaB
User avatar
Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Last visit: 21 Apr 2026
Posts: 16,438
Own Kudos:
79,369
 [2]
Given Kudos: 484
Location: Pune, India
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 16,438
Kudos: 79,369
 [2]
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 dif 10 May 2019, 11:47
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
mangamma
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 different positions in Technology team and 3 of the 7 candidates to work in the same position in HR team. Find the number of ways in which company can fill the positions?


A. 57
B. 65
C. 128
D. 256
E. 1050
Show more

2 are to be selected out of 6 for 2 different positions hence it involves selection and arrangement on the two positions.
First position can be filled in 6 ways and second in 5 ways to give a total of 6*5= 30 ways

3 of the 7 candidates are to be selected for the same role e.g. HR manager. So here we only need to select 3 of 7 in 7C3 = 35 ways.

So the company can fill the positions in 30*35 = 1050 ways

For more, check: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2011/1 ... inatorics/
https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2011/1 ... binations/
avatar
JDF
avatar
Joined: 20 Apr 2019
Last visit: 30 Apr 2020
Posts: 72
Own Kudos:
25
Given Kudos: 5
GPA: 3.11
Products:
My Reviews
Posts: 72
Kudos: 25
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 dif 10 May 2019, 13:14
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Can some explain the operations and notation here? I don’t know what the letter C means and I see it in all the explanations.

Posted from my mobile device
User avatar
warrior1991
User avatar
Joined: 03 Mar 2017
Last visit: 03 Feb 2022
Posts: 540
Own Kudos:
438
Given Kudos: 596
Location: India
Concentration: Operations, Technology
Products:
My Reviews
Posts: 540
Kudos: 438
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 dif 12 May 2019, 04:20
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
VeritasKarishma
mangamma
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 different positions in Technology team and 3 of the 7 candidates to work in the same position in HR team. Find the number of ways in which company can fill the positions?


A. 57
B. 65
C. 128
D. 256
E. 1050

2 are to be selected out of 6 for 2 different positions hence it involves selection and arrangement on the two positions.
First position can be filled in 6 ways and second in 5 ways to give a total of 6*5= 30 ways

3 of the 7 candidates are to be selected for the same role e.g. HR manager. So here we only need to select 3 of 7 in 7C3 = 35 ways.

So the company can fill the positions in 30*35 = 1050 ways

For more, check: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2011/1 ... inatorics/
https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2011/1 ... binations/
Show more


Hi VeritasKarishma

I have a doubt here. I think the two events are independent(selecting technology people and selecting HR people).

Technology team is different and we cannot put HR people in them.

Should not we add instead of multiplying.
avatar
Sujon2160
avatar
Joined: 01 Oct 2021
Last visit: 15 Mar 2022
Posts: 1
Given Kudos: 1
Location: Bangladesh
Posts: 1
Kudos: 0
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 dif 01 Oct 2021, 23:36
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Why are we multiplying 30 and 35 here. Isn't it a mutually exclusive event? Someone explain please.

Posted from my mobile device
User avatar
andrenoble
User avatar
Joined: 06 Aug 2021
Last visit: 04 Nov 2023
Posts: 60
Own Kudos:
24
 [1]
Given Kudos: 75
Location: United Kingdom
Schools: LBS '26 Imperial Wharton '26 MIT LGO'26
GPA: 3.98
WE:Business Development (Healthcare/Pharmaceuticals)
Schools: LBS '26 Imperial Wharton '26 MIT LGO'26
Posts: 60
Kudos: 24
 [1]
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 dif 03 Oct 2021, 05:54
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Sujon2160
Why are we multiplying 30 and 35 here. Isn't it a mutually exclusive event? Someone explain please.

Posted from my mobile device
Show more

Hi Sujon2160! I'm not an expert, but will try to explain! Consider this: for every "combination" of people in Technology team, there are 35 possible combinations for HR team (since they are indeed independent). For the next combination in Technology team, the same 35 in HR team are possible. Hence, we could simply multiply 30 by 35 to get all possible combinations for both teams.

Hope it's clear

Best,
Andre
User avatar
jkg040699
User avatar
Joined: 16 Aug 2025
Last visit: 09 Mar 2026
Posts: 4
Given Kudos: 13
Posts: 4
Kudos: 0
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 dif 04 Sep 2025, 03:22
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
mangamma
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 different positions in Technology team and 3 of the 7 candidates to work in the same position in HR team. Find the number of ways in which company can fill the positions?


A. 57
B. 65
C. 128
D. 256
E. 1050
Show more

1. When do we
add
?


We add when there’s an either/or situation (mutually exclusive).

Example:

  • A company either hires 2 people for Tech only (30 ways)
  • or hires 3 people for HR only (35 ways).


Total = 30 + 35 = 65.
(because they are not happening together).




2. When do we
multiply
?


We multiply when there’s an and situation (independent stages).

Example:

  • First fill 2 Tech positions (30 ways),
  • and then fill 3 HR positions (35 ways).


Since both happen, each Tech arrangement can be paired with each HR arrangement. That’s why we multiply:
30 \times 35 = 1050
User avatar
jkg040699
User avatar
Joined: 16 Aug 2025
Last visit: 09 Mar 2026
Posts: 4
Given Kudos: 13
Posts: 4
Kudos: 0
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 dif 04 Sep 2025, 03:23
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
mangamma
A company will select 2 of the 6 candidates available to work in 2 different positions in Technology team and 3 of the 7 candidates to work in the same position in HR team. Find the number of ways in which company can fill the positions?


A. 57
B. 65
C. 128
D. 256
E. 1050
Show more

1. When do we
add
?


We add when there’s an either/or situation (mutually exclusive).

Example:

  • A company either hires 2 people for Tech only (30 ways)
  • or hires 3 people for HR only (35 ways).


Total = 30 + 35 = 65.
(because they are not happening together).




2. When do we
multiply
?


We multiply when there’s an and situation (independent stages).

Example:

  • First fill 2 Tech positions (30 ways),
  • and then fill 3 HR positions (35 ways).


Since both happen, each Tech arrangement can be paired with each HR arrangement. That’s why we multiply:
30 \times 35 = 1050
Moderators:
Bunuel
Math Expert
109720 posts
Krunaal
Tuck School Moderator
853 posts