Hi M7MBA,

We're told that Claudia can choose any two of four different candles and any 8 of 9 different flowers for a centerpiece arrangement. We're asked for the number of candle + flower groupings she can select. When choosing 'groups' of items, the order of your choices does NOT matter, meaning that we can use the Combination Formula to approach this question (although we'll have to use it more than once).

Combination Formula = N!/K!(N-K)! where N is the total number of items and K is the number that you will pick.

We have 4 candles and we are choosing 2.... 4c2 = 4!/2!2! = (4)(3)/(2)(1) = 6 possible groups of candles
We have 9 flowers and we are choosing 8.... 9c8 = 9!/8!1! = (9)/(1) = 9 possible groups of flowers

Thus, there are (6)(9) = 54 possible groups of candles+flowers.

Final Answer: A

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

M7MBA wrote:Claudia can choose any two of four different candles and any 8 of 9 different flowers for a centerpiece arrangement. Given these choices, how many candle + flower groupings can she select?

A. 54
B. 72
C. 96
D. 144
E. 432

[spoiler]OA=A[/spoiler]

Source: Magoosh

The number of possible groupings is:

4C2 x 9C8 = (4 x 3)/2 x 9 = 6 x 9 = 54

Answer: A