Question

Given a committee of 8 women and 11 men, how many different ways are there to pick a female president, a male treasurer, and a secretary of either gender if one of the men, Pete, says that he cannot be the treasurer? Assume that none can hold more than one office.

Answer 1

Answer: 1360 ways.

Step-by-step explanation:

Number of men = 11

Number of women = 8

Total members = 8 + 11 = 19

Firstly, the number of ways of selecting 1 woman for female president out of 8 will be:

= 8C1

= 8

Since Pete can not be a treasurer, then the treasurer will then be selected from the remaining 10(11 - 1). The number of ways of selecting 1 treasurer out of 10 will be:

= 10C1

= 10

Thirdly, since none can hold more then one office, in this case, the selection will be done by selecting 1 person out of 7 women and 10 men. Therefore, the number of ways of selecting 1 person out of 17 will be:

= 17C1

= 17

Therefore, the total number of ways will then be:

= 8 × 10 × 17

= 1360