Combination/ Permutation

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Oscar

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A manager has a pool of 5 analysts to choose to cover three different industries. How many different ways can the manager assign one analyst to each industry.
A. 15
B. 60
C. 125
The answer says that ordering matters and uses the permutation formula (answer B). I would however think that ordering is not important here and have used the combination formula (answer would be 10).
Could somebody advise whether it is my fault or the answer is just wrong.
Thanks,
Oscar
 
I think the order is important as the statement reads “How many diff ways can manager assign one analyst to each industry”? So, it is like assigning first second and third position to students where order is important. I might be wrong.
 
The way the question is phrased I would think that there is no order in the industries (like for example from biggest tot smallest or so). But who knows…
 
’Oscar’ wrote:The way the question is phrased I would think that there is no order in the industries (like for example from biggest tot smallest or so). But who knows…
Click to expand...
But assigning Annette to Financial, Bob to Automotive, and Carla to Retail is different than assigning Annette to Retail, Bob to Financial, and Carla to Automotive.
Hence, permutations.
 
Got it! Thank you very much magician.
Best,
Oscar
 
Nitpicky point: 5 * 4 *3 = 60, but stated answer is 50. Am I missing something here? Permutations and combinations were my least favourite part of stats.
 
breadmaker wrote:
Nitpicky point: 5 * 4 *3 = 60, but stated answer is 50. Am I missing something here? Permutations and combinations were my least favourite part of stats.
Click to expand...
You are right, the 50 were a typo. I corrected it to 60.
Thanks for the hint.
Oscar
 
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