Bunuel
A committee of 7 members is to be formed to put up the Christmas decorations at Hogwarts. The following volunteered: 9 teachers, 7 Hufflepuff students, 4 ghosts, 6 Gryffindors, and 3 Prefects. How many possible committees can be formed by Professor Dumbledore if a committee must have only 1 Prefect, only 1 ghost, and at most 2 teachers?
A. 123,552
B. 200,772
C. 216,216
D. 316,188
E. 1,560,780
Solution:The committee can consist of: 1) 1 prefect, 1 ghost, 5 students; or 2) 1 prefect, 1 ghost, 1 teacher, 4 students; or 3) 1 prefect, 1 ghost, 2 teachers, 3 students.
Let’s calculate the number of committees for each of the cases.
1) 1 prefect, 1 ghost, 5 students
Notice that there are 7 + 6 = 13 students in total. 5 students can be chosen from among 13 students in 13C5 = 13!/(5!*8!) = (13*12*11*10*9)/(5*4*3*2) = 13 * 11 * 9 = 1,287 ways. Since there are three choices for the prefect and four choices for the ghost, there are 3 * 4 * 1,287 = 15,444 ways to form the committee with one prefect, one ghost and five students.
2) 1 prefect, 1 ghost, 1 teacher, 4 students
4 students can be chosen from among 13 students in 13C4 = 13!/(4!*9!) = (13*12*11*10)/(4*3*2) = 13 * 11 * 5 = 715 ways. Together with the 3 choices for the prefect, 4 choices for the ghost and 9 choices for the teacher, there are 3 * 4 * 9 * 715 = 77,220 ways to form the committee with one prefect, one ghost, one teacher and four students.
3) 1 prefect, 1 ghost, 2 teachers, 3 students
3 students can be chosen from among 13 students in 13C3 = 13!/(3!*10!) = (13*12*11)/(3*2) = 13 * 2 * 11 = 286 ways. 2 teachers can be chosen from among 9 teachers in 9C2 = 9!/(2!*7!) = (9*8)/2 = 36 ways. All together, there are 3 * 4 * 36 * 286 = 123,552 ways to form the committee with one prefect, one ghost, two teachers and three students.
Adding the number of ways for each case, we see that there are 15,444 + 77,220 + 123,552 = 216,216 ways to form the committee.
Answer: C