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Printjmc
counting and probability intermediate
Problem
My state's lottery has 30 white balls numbered from 1 through 30 and 20 red balls numbered from 1 through 20. In each lottery drawing, 3 of the white balls and 2 of the red balls are drawn. To win, you must match all 3 white balls and both red balls, without regard to the order in which they were drawn. How many possible different combinations may be drawn?
Solution
There are 30 ways to draw the first white ball, 29 ways to draw the second, and 28 ways to draw the third. However, since order doesn't matter, we must divide by to get ways to draw three white balls. There are 20 ways to draw the first red ball and 19 ways to draw the second, however, since order doesn't matter, we must divide by to get ways to draw two red balls. So the total number of outcomes for both the red and the white balls is .
Final answer
771,\!400