Suppose 7 boys and 7 girls are assigned to work in pairs of one boy and one girl. Explain what equation can be used and how you would use a simpler problem to solve these types of questions.
Thank you,
Terri
Hi Terri,
You haven't asked a question but I assume that you are to determine the number of pairings there are of one boy with one girl.
Suppose that there were only one boy and one girl, then there would only be 1 possible pairing.This is certainly a simpler problem, but too simple, it doesn't help much with the 7 of each problem.
Suppose that there were 2 boys and 2 girls. Here there are 2 possible pairings. The first girl could choose either boy as her partner and then the second girl is paired with the remaining boy.
Suppose now that there are 3 boys and 3 girls. This time the first girl
has 3 choices for her partner. Once she has chosen a partner the second
girl has 2 boys to choose from and the third girl is paired with the
remaining boy. Thus there are 3
21=6
possible pairings.
What happens if there are 4 boys and 4 girls?
Penny