Our answer using permutations would be the number of favorable outcomes/the number of possible outcomes which would be (4*3*2*1)/(60*59*58*57).
The total number of different permutations of 4 numbers taken out of 60 different numbers is 60!/((60-4)!), which can be written as 60*59*58*57.
Another way to say this is that there are 4! different ways to order the four numbers –or- there are 4! different permutations of the four numbers that give us the favorable outcome. Let us do it both ways, using the permutations first.Īs you mentioned, there a 4! ways of writing the four numbers. He could have taken the number of possible permutations with a favorable outcome and divided that by the total possible number of permutations –or-he could have taken the number of possible combinations with a favorable outcome and divided that by the total number of possible combinations (which is what he did). Sal could have solved this problem in two ways.
