GMAT Practice Question: A technology startup will select 1 project manager from 9 candidates, 2...
Question
A technology startup will select 1 project manager from 9 candidates, 2 software engineers from 7 candidates, and 1 designer from 20 candidates to form a core team of 4 professionals. If no candidate is eligible for more than one role, how many different teams are possible?
- 3,360
- 3,500
- 3,762
- 3,780
- 3,920
Topics: combinations, p&c multisource
Solution
Step 1
We first calculate the number of ways to choose one project manager from nine eligible candidates.
C(9,1) = 9!/1!8! = 987654321/1(87654321) = 9
Step 2
We then calculate the number of ways to choose two software engineers from seven eligible candidates, where the two positions are identical.
C(7,2) = 7!/2!5! = 7654321/(21)(54321) = 7654321/(21)(54321) = 21
Step 3
Next, we calculate the number of ways to choose one designer from twenty eligible candidates.
C(20,1) = 20!/1!19! = 2019181716151413121110987654321/1(19181716151413121110987654321) = 20
Step 4
Because the project manager selection, the software engineer selection, and the designer selection are all independent, we multiply these counts to find the total number of teams.
9 21 20 = 3,780
Answer
D
