Question

Thirty-six people in student council are running for the offices of president and vice-president. In how many different ways can those offices be assigned?

Answer 1

36P2
smaller example:  say 4  people are running for office, A,B,C, and D

first way: A is prez, B is vice
second way: A is prez, C is vice

Let;'smakeit simpler

A, B
A,C
A, D
B, A
B, C
B, D
C, A
... get it?

Now we don't wantto do that with 36 people so we do some math

Let's say we order four people; A, B,C, D

at first we have 4 choices for 1st. Once we pick a 1st, we have 3 to choose from. 4 1stpicks, from that there can be 3 2nd picks, so thetotal so far is 4*3. Once 2nd is picked, there are 2 choices for 3rd; 4*3*2. And only one choice for the lastplace; 4*3*2*1

For 36 people, we have 36 choices for prez, that leaved 35 choices for vice. but here, thank goodness, we are only picking two places; prez and vice. So we can stop there. You shoid be able to figure out what to do based on the example I gave