Question:medium

A college has 10 basketball players. A 5-member team and a captain will be selected out of these 10 players. How many different selections can be made?

Show Hint

When a problem involves choosing a group *and* assigning a role (like captain) within that group, remember that "choosing 5 and then 1 captain from the 5" is equivalent to "choosing 1 captain from 10 and then 4 members from the remaining 9". Pick the method that seems simpler to calculate for your exam.
Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • 1260
  • 1400
  • 1250
  • 1600
Show Solution

The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: We can think of this selection as splitting the 10 players into three separate groups at once: 1 player becomes the captain, 4 more players join as the rest of the team, and the remaining 5 players are not selected at all.

Step 2: The number of ways to split a group of 10 into groups of sizes 1, 4, and 5 is given by the multinomial coefficient: \( \dfrac{10!}{1!\,4!\,5!} \).

Step 3: Compute the factorials and simplify: \(10! = 3628800\), \(1!=1\), \(4!=24\), \(5!=120\), so the denominator is \(1 \times 24 \times 120 = 2880\). Dividing gives \( \dfrac{3628800}{2880} = 1260 \).
\[ \boxed{1260} \]
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