Expert: Steve Holleran - 4/9/2007

Question
What is the formula to figure out how many possible different combinations of 6 numbers there are from the numbers 1-46 .  (example: possible 6/49 combinations)

Answer
Hello Sandy,

The combination formula goes like this:

The number of combinations of "n" items "r" at a time is given by     n C r = n! / [r!*(n-r)!]

So, in the case you cite, it would be

  46 C 6 = 46! / [6! * (46-6)!]  = 46! / 6! * 40!

The result here would be 9,366,819.

Hope this helps.

Steve Holleran