Question

A department store chain is expanding into a new market, and is considering 16 different sites on which to locate 5 stores. assuming that each site is equally likely to be chosen, in how many ways can the sites for the new stores be selected

Answer 1

We can find the number of ways by multiplying the amount of possibility each store can have.

For store 1, it can be placed on 16 sites. Store 2 can be placed on 15 sites (since store 1 is already on site 1). Store 3 can be placed on 14 sites and so on until store 5 which has 12 sites.

Therefore the number of ways is:

C = 16 * 15 * 14 * 13 * 12

C = 524,160 possibilities