K Dales,

Thanks very much for your detailed explanation - I appreciate the trouble
that you have gone to and I am very much enlightened as a result.

Don


"K Dales" <KDales@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7AC77410-CD11-437C-BA94-C3F9F23900F2@microsoft.com...
> Not sure I have it straight: you are saying that the filled cell is the
> same
> in every block? So the same pattern repeats for every block? Then
> (unrelated issue) can there only be one cell filled per block, or can you
> have zero, or one, or two, or 3, or up to all 6 filled? The answer
> depends
> on those details.
>
> But Excel can help you figure it: There is a COMBIN worksheet function to
> figure combinations:
> COMBIN(number, number chosen)
> So for example, if there are 6 cells and you MUST choose only one, the
> number of combinations is COMBIN(6,1)=6, as expected
> If you can choose 0 OR 1, it would be COMBIN(6,1)+COMBIN(6,0)=7 (OR
> implies
> we add the answers; and there is only 1 way to get 0 filled cells from
> your
> block of 6; i.e. all blank).
> SO if you can choose 0,1,2,3,4,5,or all 6 cells it would be:
> =COMBIN(6,0)+COMBIN(6,1)+COMBIN(6,2)+COMBIN(6,3)+COMBIN(6,4)+COMBIN(6,5)+COMBIN(6,6)
> which gives 64 ways to fill the cells
>
> Consider now 2 blocks of 6 cells: If they MUST have the same pattern, it
> gives you no change in the number of combinations possible. But if has
> the
> same number of combinations possible as the first cell (which I will call
> n
> for this "lesson"), then EACH combination in the first can be combined
> with
> EACH combination in the 2nd - this works out to n x n combinations
> possible.
> Every other block contributes the same number (n) of possible new
> combinations for each existing combination already possible, so we
> multiply n
> each time we have a block - so whatever n is for your given situation, the
> final answer for 42 blocks of cells will be n to the 42nd power...
>
> Hope this is not too mathematical - I teach on occasion so it is hard for
> me
> to just give an answer without at least an attempt at explaining how or
> why
> the answer comes out that way!
>
> K Dales
>
> --
> - K Dales
>
>
> "Don Lloyd" wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>> This is a repost with different criteria.
>>
>> 42 blocks of data each containing 6 cells.
>> Each cell can be either empty or populated.
>>
>> How many combinations given that, for example :
>> Block 1 with 1 cell poulated, all others empty, is the same as Block 2
>> with
>> 1 cell populated, all others empty etc.
>>
>> The answer may be the same as in the previous post - my math / stats is
>> not
>> up to it !!
>>
>> regards,
>> Don
>>
>>
>>