From a group of 21 astronauts that includes 12 people

This topic has expert replies
Legendary Member
Posts: 2276
Joined: Sat Oct 14, 2017 6:10 am
Followed by:3 members
From a group of 21 astronauts that includes 12 people with previous experience in space flight, a 3-person crew is to be selected so that exactly one person in the crew has previous experience in space flight. How many different crews of this type are possible?

A. 432
B. 94
C. 864
D. 1330
E. 7980

The OA is the option A.

What are the formulas that I should use here? I am a little confused. How should I start solving this PS question? Thanks in advanced.

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 7222
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:56 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Thanked: 43 times
Followed by:29 members

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Sun Jul 28, 2019 9:24 am
VJesus12 wrote:From a group of 21 astronauts that includes 12 people with previous experience in space flight, a 3-person crew is to be selected so that exactly one person in the crew has previous experience in space flight. How many different crews of this type are possible?

A. 432
B. 94
C. 864
D. 1330
E. 7980
There are 12C1 = 12 ways to select a member with previous flight experience.

Since there are 21 - 12 = 9 members available to fill the remaining 2 slots in the crew, there are 9C2 = 9! / (2! x 7 !) = (9 x 8) / 2! = 36 ways to select 2 members with no previous flight experience.

So the total number of possible crews is 36 x 12 = 432.

Answer: A

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder and CEO
[email protected]

Image

See why Target Test Prep is rated 5 out of 5 stars on BEAT the GMAT. Read our reviews

ImageImage