Back to Combinatorial Proofs

Exercise 5

Avg difficulty 2.5

A woman is getting married. She has 15 best friends but can only select 6 of them to be her bridesmaids, one of which needs to be her maid of honor. How many ways can she do this?

  1. What if she first selects the 6 bridesmaids, and then selects one of them to be the maid of honor?

  2. What if she first selects her maid of honor, and then 5 other bridesmaids?

  3. Explain why 6(156)=15(145)6 {15 \choose 6} = 15 {14 \choose 5}.

Levin, Discrete Mathematics: An Open Introduction (3rd ed.), §2.4 Combinatorial Proofs, Exercise 5

AI Tutor

Adapted from Discrete Mathematics: An Open Introduction © 2013–2019 Oscar Levin. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Discrete Mathematics: An Open Introduction. Imported at revision 1e2e26b.