SOLUTION: There are five people in my family. How many different groupings of these five people can be formed (i.e. groups with from 1 to 5 members)? I know the answer is 31, but is there

Algebra ->  Permutations -> SOLUTION: There are five people in my family. How many different groupings of these five people can be formed (i.e. groups with from 1 to 5 members)? I know the answer is 31, but is there      Log On


   

Question 912625: There are five people in my family. How many different groupings of these five people can be formed (i.e. groups with from 1 to 5 members)?
I know the answer is 31, but is there a formula for solving this? (Not homework, just a problem I thought of, and can't find a method on the internet!)
Thank you!
Answer by ichigo449(30) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
You are dealing with combinations, or the number of ways of arranging, in an ordered fashion, k objects from a set with n total objects and is defined as n!/k!(n-k)!. Where x! is the factorial function. Your answer is the addition of each combination running from 1 to 5.