HP 35s Instruction Manual page 3

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HP 35s Probability – Rearranging items
Answer: 2,598,960 different hands. Figure 2 shows the display assuming algebraic mode.
Example 3: John has had a difficult week at work and is standing in front of the doughnut display at the local
grocery store. He is trying to determine the number of ways he can fill his bag with his 5 doughnuts
from the 20 varieties in the display case. He considers the order in which the doughnuts are placed into
the bag to be unimportant. How many different ways can he put them in his bag?
Solution: Since the order in which the doughnuts are placed in the bag does not matter, the problem is solved
as a combination.
In RPN mode: 20Ï5¹x
In algebraic mode: ¹x20Õ5Ï
Answer: 15,504 different ways. Figure 3 shows the display assuming RPN mode.
Example 4: John has had a difficult week at work and is standing in front of the doughnut display at the local
grocery store. He is trying to determine the number of ways he can fill his bag with his 5 doughnuts
from the 20 varieties in the display case. He considers the order in which the doughnuts are placed into
the bag to be quite important. How many different ways can he put them in his bag?
Solution: Since the order in which the doughnuts are placed in the bag matters, the problem is solved
as a permutation.
In RPN mode: 20Ï5º{
In algebraic mode: º{20Õ5Ï
Answer: 1,860,480 different ways. John may be in front of the display case for some time. Figure 4 shows the
display assuming algebraic mode.
Example 5: If you flip a coin 10 times, what is the probability that it comes up tails exactly 4 times?
Solution: This is an example of the binomial probability distribution. The formula to find the answer is given by:
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Figure 3
Figure 4
- 3 - HP 35s Probability – Rearranging items - Version 1.0