garuhape wrote:I just wanted to apply what I have learned on this particular problem:
A manager needs to hire 3 people to work in her marketing department, and one of which is to be the team leader. If there are 10 potential candidates, how many distinct ways can she fill these three positions?
In this case, there are only good combination and no bad ones.
10!/(3!*7!) = 720/6 = 120
However, the answer is 360. So I guess that I have to multiply the 120 by 3. But why? Aren't the 120 already all the possible combination?
Thx
Start with the most restricted position, which is the team leader.
Number of choices for team leader = 10.
A combination of 2 people must be put together with the team leader.
Number of combinations of 2 that can be formed from the 9 remaining people = 9C2 = 36.
To combine the number of choices we have for the team leader with the number of choices we have for the other two positions, we multiply the results above:
10*36 = 360.
If we simply count the number of combinations of 3 that can be formed from the 10 candidates, we'll be undercounting the total number of possible assignments.
ABC is one combination of 3 people, but Candidate A as team leader with B and C his associates is a different assignment from Candidate B as team leader with A and C his associates.
Thus, to account for all the different ways that the team leader can be assigned, we first we need to count how many choices we have for the team leader -- the most restricted position -- and then proceed from there.
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