Final answer:
The combination 10C2 represents the number of ways to choose 2 items from 10 without considering the order. Using the formula n! / (r! * (n-r)!), one can calculate it by simplifying 10! / (2! * 8!) to obtain the value 45.
Step-by-step explanation:
The combination formula, often represented as nCr, refers to the number of ways to choose r items from a set of n without regard to order. To compute 10C2, which means selecting 2 items from a set of 10, you can apply the combination formula n! / (r! * (n-r)!).
Let's break it down step-by-step:
- Compute 10! (10 factorial), which is 10 × 9 × 8 × ... × 1.
- Compute 2! (2 factorial), which is simply 2 × 1.
- Compute (10-2)! which is 8! (8 factorial).
- Now, substitute into the formula: 10! / (2! × 8!) = (10 × 9) / (2 × 1) since the terms from 8! cancel out the corresponding terms in 10!.
- Finally, calculate the result: (10 × 9) / (2 × 1) = 90 / 2 = 45.
Therefore, the value of 10C2 is 45.