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03-09-2016 11:55 AM
we're watching the Price is Right. If you have 4 numbers, how many combos of those 4 numbers can you end up with. I said less than he did, he said 24, I said 16. We tried listing them then went bonkers. We figured for 3 there would be 6 combos. No wonder they can't win the car! LOL
Is there a way to figure that out quickly w/o listing them all?
03-09-2016 12:07 PM
@qualitygalThe number is 24, but I cheated and Googled for the answer. I knew it couldn't be just 16, but I had no idea until I looked how to get the answer quickly.
There's an explanation on Google -- just not near the top of the listings if you want to see how it was done. Made sense when I saw it.
03-09-2016 12:13 PM
Man! Google had that answer? They have everything don't they! I'll have to look it up, thanks!
03-09-2016 12:16 PM
@qualitygal wrote:we're watching the Price is Right. If you have 4 numbers, how many combos of those 4 numbers can you end up with. I said less than he did, he said 24, I said 16. We tried listing them then went bonkers. We figured for 3 there would be 6 combos. No wonder they can't win the car! LOL
Is there a way to figure that out quickly w/o listing them all?
If you have 4 numbers and you want to know the total combinations that can be made from those 4 numbers, the calculation would be 4x3x2x1 or 24 combinations. Similarly for 5 it would be 5x4x3x2x1 or 120 combinations.
The formula is more complex if you want to know something like how many possible combinations of 4 numbers can be made from a set of 15 numbers (as an example).
03-09-2016 12:29 PM
@qualitygal Yes you can google everything. I just googled in response to your post about the sock. Here's what I said,
'what are jokes about losing one sock'.....you wouldn't believe all of the laundry jokes that came up!
I google everything. Unfortunately, it also causes me to get way too many junk emails and calls, but at least for 5 minutes people think I'm smart! Ha!
03-09-2016 01:40 PM
4x3x2x1=24
03-09-2016 01:54 PM - edited 03-09-2016 01:54 PM
As others have said, it is 4! (4 factorial) which is 4x3x2x1.
03-09-2016 02:38 PM
that made my head hurt! "They promised there would be no math."
03-09-2016 02:51 PM - edited 03-09-2016 02:52 PM
does order matter?
Is "4, 3, 2, 1" the same as "1, 2, 3, 4" or are they considered different?
If it is a "combination" then order doesn't matter and the answer is 1.
If it is a "permutation" then order does matter and the answer is 24.
The question actually asked for "combo" so the answer is 1.
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