- #1
Bre Ntt
- 5
- 0
This is a pretty basic counting problem, but it is confusing me to no end. I know the answer (from the back of the book), but I just don't understand the answer.
Find the probability of getting exactly 4 numbers correct in a lottery where 6 numbers are chosen from 49 numbers (no repetitions.)
The answer is (43 Choose 2)(6 Choose 4)/(49 Choose 6)
(43 Choose 2)(6 Choose 4) is apparently the number of possible tickets with exactly 4 correct answers. But I'm not sure exactly why. I think (43 Choose 2) is the number of possible tickets which have 2 numbers which do not match the winning numbers. Why multiply this by (6 Choose 4) though? I'm thinking it has something to do with considering how many ways you can choose 4 numbers from the 6 winning numbers, but I don't understand why one multiplies it by the number of ways possible tickets which have exactly 2-non-matching numbers.
I can't figure out an intuitive way to grasp this counting process. It almost makes sense to me, but not quite. Can anyone explain this with an intuitive counting argument?
Homework Statement
Find the probability of getting exactly 4 numbers correct in a lottery where 6 numbers are chosen from 49 numbers (no repetitions.)
The answer is (43 Choose 2)(6 Choose 4)/(49 Choose 6)
(43 Choose 2)(6 Choose 4) is apparently the number of possible tickets with exactly 4 correct answers. But I'm not sure exactly why. I think (43 Choose 2) is the number of possible tickets which have 2 numbers which do not match the winning numbers. Why multiply this by (6 Choose 4) though? I'm thinking it has something to do with considering how many ways you can choose 4 numbers from the 6 winning numbers, but I don't understand why one multiplies it by the number of ways possible tickets which have exactly 2-non-matching numbers.
I can't figure out an intuitive way to grasp this counting process. It almost makes sense to me, but not quite. Can anyone explain this with an intuitive counting argument?