How many different combinations can you make out of 5 different things?

Answer 1

5! = 120

! means factorial. A factorial is the product of of the positive integers and equals the number of different combinations of a number.

A factorial can be work out quite simply. Take the number 5. 5! = 5x4x3x2x1 = 120

So simply place the number you are trying to find out the combinations for first and then times it by all the numbers below.

Some more examples would be:

8! = 8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1 = 4320

3! = 3x2x1 = 6

10! = 10x9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1 = 3,628,800

6! = 6x5x4x3x2x1 = 720

* * * * *

An interesting introduction on factorials but totally misses the point of the question. A factorial generates permutations, not combinations! For combinations, abc is the same as acb, cab, bac, etc.

The number of combinations of that you can make out of 5 things *including the null combination - ie nothing) is 25 = 32.