Question

Select a committee of 3 people from your staff of 9. How many different ways can this be accomplished when one person will be the lead, one will be the record keeper, and one will be the researcher

Answer 1

504 ways.

Explanation:

In this case, order matters. If Amy were lead, Bob were record keeper, and Charles were researcher, that would be different than if Bob were lead, Charles were record keeper, and Amy were researcher. So, we will be using a permutation formula to compute.

The formula is n! / (n - k)!, where n is the total number of people (9), and k is the number you are selecting (3).

9! / (9 - 3)! = 9! / 6! = (9 * 8 * 7 * 6 * 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1) / (6 * 5 * 4 * 3 * 2 * 1) = 9 * 8 * 7 = 72 * 7 = 504 ways.

Hope this helps!