.
Let A be the subset of those 10 who would not go to a park;
let B be the subset of those 17 who would not go to a beach; and
let C be the subset of those 12 who would not go to a cottage.
Then we are given that
- the intersection AB of the subsets A and B consists of 3 persons (="neither a park nor a beach");
- the intersection BC of the subsets B and C consists of 11 persons (="neither a beach nor a cottage");
- the intersection AC of the subsets A and C consists of 2 persons (="neither a park nor a cottage").
We are also given that the intersection ABC of the subsets A, B and C consists of 1 person ("would not go to a park or a beach or a cottage"), and
the supplement of the UNION of the sets A, B and C to the entire group consists of 2 persons ("willing to go to all three places").
Now, there is a FUNDAMENTAL and ELEMENTARY formula in the theory of finite sets saying that
n(A U B U C) = nA + nB + nC - nAB - nBC - nAC + nABC.
Here the small letter n before the set/the subset name means "the number of elements in the subset",
or, using the high level terminology, "the cardinality" of the finite subset.
I will not distract your attention now for proving this formula.
Instead, I will show you how to solve the problem in two lines, using this formula.
Line 1: n(A U B U C) = 10 + 17 + 12 - 3 - 11 - 2 + 1 = 24 persons in the UNION (A U B U C), and
Line 2: The entire set = (A U B U C) + 2 persons has 24 + 2 = 26 persons in total.
Answer. The entire group consists of 26 persons.
Instead of proving the formula (*), I'll direct you to my lessons in this site
- Counting elements in sub-sets of a given finite set
- Advanced problems on counting elements in sub-sets of a given finite set
You will find there all the arguments needed for the proof (and, actually, the proof itself) in the entertainment form.
Read it and have fun !