Carol is having friends over to watch home movies

BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

This topic has expert replies

Post new topic Post Reply

Previous Topic Next Topic

BTGmoderatorDC: Moderator; Posts: 7187; Joined: Thu Sep 07, 2017 4:43 pm; Followed by:23 members

Carol is having friends over to watch home movies

by BTGmoderatorDC » Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:02 am

Carol is having friends over to watch home movies. She has 6 reels of home movies, but she and her friends have time to watch only 3 of them. Carol must decide which reels to watch and in what order. How many different orderings does Carol have from which to choose?

A. 120
B. 96
C. 60
D. 36
E. 20

How will i start solving it?

OA A

Quote

Source: Beat The GMAT — Problem Solving | Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:02 am

GMAT/MBA Expert

Jay@ManhattanReview: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3008; Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:19 am; Location: Grand Central / New York; Thanked: 470 times; Followed by:34 members

by Jay@ManhattanReview » Mon Dec 11, 2017 8:37 pm

lheiannie07 wrote:Carol is having friends over to watch home movies. She has 6 reels of home movies, but she and her friends have time to watch only 3 of them. Carol must decide which reels to watch and in what order. How many different orderings does Carol have from which to choose?

A. 120
B. 96
C. 60
D. 36
E. 20

How will i start solving it?

OA A

With the usage of the phrase, "in what order," this question falls into the category of Permutation since the order is important.

The number of different orderings = 6P3 = 6.5.4 = 120.

The correct answer: A

Hope this helps!

-Jay
_________________
Manhattan Review GMAT Prep

Locations: Stamford | Istanbul | Evanston | Seoul | and many more...

Schedule your free consultation with an experienced GMAT Prep Advisor! Click here.

Quote

GMAT/MBA Expert

[email protected]: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 10392; Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm; Location: Palo Alto, CA; Thanked: 2867 times; Followed by:511 members; GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Mon Dec 11, 2017 8:58 pm

Hi lheiannie07,

We're told that Carol has 6 reels of home movies, but there's only enough time to watch 3 of them. We're asked for the number of different orderings of 3 films to choose. Since the ORDER of the reels matters, this is a Permutation question.

For the 1st reel, there are 6 options. Once we choose one...
For the 2nd reel, there are 5 options. Once we choose one...
For the 3rd reel, there are 4 options.

Thus, there are (6)(5)(4) = 120 possible orders

Final Answer: A

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

Contact Rich at [email protected]

Quote

GMAT/MBA Expert

Scott@TargetTestPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 8086; Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 am; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 43 times; Followed by:29 members

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Fri Sep 27, 2019 7:34 am

BTGmoderatorDC wrote:Carol is having friends over to watch home movies. She has 6 reels of home movies, but she and her friends have time to watch only 3 of them. Carol must decide which reels to watch and in what order. How many different orderings does Carol have from which to choose?

A. 120
B. 96
C. 60
D. 36
E. 20

How will i start solving it?

OA A

The number of ways the movies can be watched is 6P3 = 6 x 5 x 4 = 120.

Answer: A

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder and CEO
[email protected]