Probability of an arbitrary event under an equally likely assumption

[gdarnell]

First let me state that this is not homework just an example.
Supppose 9 female and 7 male applicants have been successfully screened for 5 positions. If the 5 positions are filled at random from the 16 finalists, what is the probability of selecting,
(A) 3 females and 2 males
(B) 4 females and 1 male
(C) 5 females
(D) At least 4 females
What I really need to know is how to enter the data into Excel in order to solve

 

[diddi]

A

there are 9C3 * 7C2 combinations

= 9!/3!6! * 7!/2!5!

=362880/(6 * 720) * 5040/(2 * 120)

=84 * 21

=1764

B
there are 9C4 * 7C1 combinations

C

there are 9C5 combinations


D
sum of B and C

 

[diddi]

i note that there is a function called Combin( ) which might be worth a look at, too.

 

[gdarnell]

Thank you for the function combin() hint it helped greatly!!!

 

[diddi]

yeh that seemed to work as expected. im not always up with the unusual functions and do things the hard way, then find out later on... anyway a bit of theory never hurts i guess.