How many leftover menus can you make? (math problem)

After the feast of Thanksgiving, I enjoy slowly nibbling away at the leftovers.

You’d be surprised how much variety you can get out of leftovers. Here’s a math problem that illustrates the idea.

After Thanksgiving, you end up with enough leftovers for a week’s worth of dinners. You have enough food to make 3 turkey dinners, 2 vegetable dinners, and 2 beef dinners.

How many different ways can you arrange the meals for the next week’s menu?

The answer is posted in the comments section.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.



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  • http://www.mindyourdecisions.com/blog/ Presh Talwalkar

    The answer is you can create a surprising 210 weekly menus = 7! / (3! x 2! x 2!)

    The math behind the problem is about calculating the number of permutations when some items are identical. Here is a good refresher on that: http://www.brainjammer.com/math/combinatorics/





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