Let's say you have two boxes, each with the letters A and B in them. You pick one letter from each box - have a total of four combinations (AA, AB, BA, BB). But, let's say you only want unique combinations (order does not matter), so there are really only 3 combinations (AB and BA are the same).
You can do the same with two boxes with the letters A, B and C in them. There are 9 total combinations, but only 6 unique combinations.
Is there a general way to figure this out regardless of the number of boxes or letters in the boxes?
2007-10-05
03:35:52
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3 answers
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asked by
mathpuzzle
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in
Mathematics