SOLUTION: How many different ways can two balls be drawn from a bag containing five balls? Each ball is a different color, and the first ball is replaced before the second one is selected.

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Question 1157314: How many different ways can two balls be drawn from a bag containing five balls? Each ball is a different color, and the first ball is replaced before the second one is selected. How many different ways are there if the first ball is not replaced before the second one is selected?
Answer by ikleyn(54018) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
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How many different ways can two balls be drawn from a bag containing five balls?
Each ball is a different color, and the first ball is replaced before the second one is selected.
How many different ways are there if the first ball is not replaced before the second one is selected?
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This problem has two major cases: 
    - one    when the first ball is replaced before the second ball is selected, and
    - second when the first ball is NOT replaced before the second ball is selected.


Each of the two major cases has two sub-cases: 
    - one    when the order of balls in final pairs is important, and 
    - second when the order of balls in final pairs is NOT important.


So, the problem has 2x2 = 4 different cases to consider and 4 different reasoning 
to get 4 different solutions and answers.



Case 1.  If the first ball is replaced before the second one is selected, then
          there are 5 choices for the first ball and 5 choices for the second ball.

          Sub-case 1.  If the order of the balls in final pairs is important, then 
                       the number of different ways (different final pairs) is 5*5 = 25.

                       The answer for this sub-case is 25.

                       It is the number of different entries/cells in 5x5-matrix.


          Sub-case 2.  If the order of the balls in final pairs is NOT important, then 

                       we count %285%2A4%29%2F2 = 10 different final pairs with different colors
                       and add to them 5 pairs of the same color. 

                       The answer for this sub-case is 10 + 5 = 15.

                       It is the number of over-diagonal cells in 5x5-matrix plus 5 diagonal entries.



Case 2.  If the first ball is NOT replaced before the second one is selected, then
          there are 5 choices for the first ball and 4 choices for the second ball.

          Sub-case 1.  If the order of the balls in final pairs is important, then 
                       the number of different ways (different final pairs) is 5*4 = 20.

                       The answer for this sub-case is 20.

                       It is the number of different entries/cells in 5x5-matrix
                       with its diagonal excluded.


          Sub-case 2.  If the order of the balls in final pairs is NOT important, then 
                       the number of different ways (different final pairs) is %285%2A4%29%2F2 = 20/2 = 10.

                       In this case, we count %285%2A4%29%2F2 = 10 different final pairs with different colors.

                       The answer for this sub-case is 10.

                       It is the number of over-diagonal cells in 5x5-matrix; 
                       the diagonal entries are excluded.

At this point, my analysis is complete and the problem is solved.