In an army platoon, a squad is being randomly chosen to go on patrol.The order of the selected participants matters, because it determines the positioning of each soldier; that is, the first chosen person will be the lead or the "point" man, with the second chosen following, and so on.If the source platoon consists of 16 soldiers and the squad being selected will have four soldiers, how many possible unique squads are there?
A) 43,680
B) 1820
C) 64
D) 65,536

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The number of unique squads can be calculated using permutations since the order of selection matters. The formula for permutations is P(n, r) = n! / (n-r)!, where n is the total number of items (soldiers) and r is the number of items to be chosen (squad members). Here, n=16 and r=4, so P(16, 4) = 16! / (16-4)! = 16! / 12! = 16 x 15 x 14 x 13 = 43,680.

In an Army Platoon, a Squad Is Being Randomly Chosen