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This is again a combinations questions since the order does not matter.

Number of ways to pick 2 teams from a total of 16 = 16C2 = 16!/14!*2! = 120. Hence C.
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AbdurRakib
There are 16 teams in a tournament. If during the first round, each team plays every other team exactly once, how many games will be played in the first round?

A.15
B.30
C.120
D.240
E.256

this Q is a copy of VERITA's Q or verita's Q is a copy of this Q if the source have been mentioned correctly
https://gmatclub.com/forum/there-are-16-teams-in-a-soccer-league-and-each-team-plays-each-of-the-205437.html?fl=similar

Surprisingly whosoever copied has not even changed the number of teams .....

Choose two teams out of 16 -\(16C2 = \frac{16!}{14!2!}= \frac{16*15}{2}= 120\)

Really!
However

This Question appeared to me on my Kaplan Test Prep CAT

Thanks
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Can someone explain to me why we divide the 16 * 15 by 2? Is it because two teams are playing?
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Can someone explain to me why we divide the 16 * 15 by 2? Is it because two teams are playing?

You divide by two because if A shakes hands with B, then B is also shaking hands with A, so 16*15 counts each handshake twice.
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Hi All,

You can actually answer this question without any complex math, as long as you take the proper notes.

We're told that 16 teams each play one another once. We're asked for the total number of games played. For the sake of organization, I'm going to name the 16 teams...

ABCDE FGHIJ KLMNO P

Team A will play each of the other 15 teams = 15 games
Team B already played Team A, so Team B plays the other 14 teams = an additional 14 games
Team C already played Teams A and B, so Team C plays the other 13 teams = an additional 13 games
Etc.

Thus, the total number of games played will be... 15+14+13....+2+1+0. Using 'bunching' you end up with (15)(8) = 120 total games played.

Final Answer:
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If you don't know the combination formula you can still give a try. As I did with little bit logical reasoning.

Note: It's always good to use proper method / formula.

# of teams = 16.

We have 5 AC.

A.15
B.30
C.120
D.240
E.256

Eliminate option A and B as the number is too low.
Eliminate option E (16 * 16 = 256) max possible matches [if we consider double entry]

Options left C & D.

If we roughly guess double entries (e.g Team1 vs Team2 = Team2 vs Team1), the number is going to be more than 16.
Hence, eliminate option D.

Ans: Option C
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AbdurRakib
There are 16 teams in a tournament. If during the first round, each team plays every other team exactly once, how many games will be played in the first round?

A.15
B.30
C.120
D.240
E.256

Since there are 16 teams and each team plays every other team once, the number of games played in the first round is 16C2 =16!/[2!(16-2)!] = (16 x 15)/2! = 8 x 15 = 120 games.

Answer: C
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The total number of games played would be equal to two selecting two teams out of 16 team

16C2=16!14!2!=16∗152=120
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