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Hey Bunel,

Since the prize are ordered, shouldn't we use permutations instead of combination?

Bunuel
udit0610
Four men and four women participated in a dance competition. Top three performers were awarded a gold coin, a silver coin, and a bronze coin, respectively. If there were no ties, what is the probability that at least two women were awarded?

A. 1/4
B. 1/3
C. 1/2
D. 3/4
E. 4/5


P(at least two women) = P(two women) + P(three women) =

= 4C2*4C1/8C3 + 4C3/8C3 =

= 6*4/56 + 4/56 =

= 1/2.

Answer: C.

Alternatively, note that we can have the following four cases:


WWW
WWM

WMM
MMM


We need to find the combined probability of the green events. Since there are an equal number of men and women, because of the symmetry, the probability of the green events equals the probability of the red events. And since their sum is 1, then the probability of each, red and green events, is 1/2.

Answer: C.
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Akarsh97
Hey Bunel,

Since the prize are ordered, shouldn't we use permutations instead of combination?

Bunuel
udit0610
Four men and four women participated in a dance competition. Top three performers were awarded a gold coin, a silver coin, and a bronze coin, respectively. If there were no ties, what is the probability that at least two women were awarded?

A. 1/4
B. 1/3
C. 1/2
D. 3/4
E. 4/5


P(at least two women) = P(two women) + P(three women) =

= 4C2*4C1/8C3 + 4C3/8C3 =

= 6*4/56 + 4/56 =

= 1/2.

Answer: C.

Alternatively, note that we can have the following four cases:


WWW
WWM

WMM
MMM


We need to find the combined probability of the green events. Since there are an equal number of men and women, because of the symmetry, the probability of the green events equals the probability of the red events. And since their sum is 1, then the probability of each, red and green events, is 1/2.

Answer: C.

No, because we're only counting how many women are in the top 3, not who gets which prize. So combinations are enough, order doesn’t matter for this.
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Akarsh97
Hey Bunel,

Since the prize are ordered, shouldn't we use permutations instead of combination?

Bunuel
udit0610
Four men and four women participated in a dance competition. Top three performers were awarded a gold coin, a silver coin, and a bronze coin, respectively. If there were no ties, what is the probability that at least two women were awarded?

A. 1/4
B. 1/3
C. 1/2
D. 3/4
E. 4/5


P(at least two women) = P(two women) + P(three women) =

= 4C2*4C1/8C3 + 4C3/8C3 =

= 6*4/56 + 4/56 =

= 1/2.

Answer: C.

Alternatively, note that we can have the following four cases:


WWW
WWM

WMM
MMM


We need to find the combined probability of the green events. Since there are an equal number of men and women, because of the symmetry, the probability of the green events equals the probability of the red events. And since their sum is 1, then the probability of each, red and green events, is 1/2.

Answer: C.
I find it easier to solve it in the following way:

Probability of 3 women winning the prizes = 4/8 + 3/7 + 2/6 = 1/14.

Probability of 2 women winning the prizes = (4/8 + 3/7 +4/6) * 3 = 6/14.

So, total probability that women will win 2 or more prizes = 1/14 + 6/14 = 7/14 = 1/2.
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https://gmatclub.com/forum/probability- ... 47351.html
Why does the order in this question matter, then?
It's pretty much asking the same thing

Bunuel


Bunuel
udit0610
Four men and four women participated in a dance competition. Top three performers were awarded a gold coin, a silver coin, and a bronze coin, respectively. If there were no ties, what is the probability that at least two women were awarded?

A. 1/4
B. 1/3
C. 1/2
D. 3/4
E. 4/5


P(at least two women) = P(two women) + P(three women) =

= 4C2*4C1/8C3 + 4C3/8C3 =

= 6*4/56 + 4/56 =

= 1/2.

Answer: C.

Alternatively, note that we can have the following four cases:


WWW
WWM

WMM
MMM


We need to find the combined probability of the green events. Since there are an equal number of men and women, because of the symmetry, the probability of the green events equals the probability of the red events. And since their sum is 1, then the probability of each, red and green events, is 1/2.

Answer: C.

No, because we're only counting how many women are in the top 3, not who gets which prize. So combinations are enough, order doesn’t matter for this.
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hillhuangcp
https://gmatclub.com/forum/probability-that-a-shooter-misses-the-target-is-0-8-what-is-the-proba-447351.html
Why does the order in this question matter, then?
It's pretty much asking the same thing


In the shooter problem, order matters because each shot is a separate, sequential event (e.g., Hit-Hit-Miss is different from Hit-Miss-Hit). We must count all possible sequences where the shooter gets at least 2 hits.

In the dance problem, order doesn’t matter because we only care about how many women win, not which prizes they get (e.g., Woman A winning gold and Woman B winning silver is the same as Woman B winning gold and Woman A winning silver for the purpose of counting "at least two women").
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