In an examination, a student has to write exams in 8 different subjects. He is declared fail if he fails in…

In an examination, a student has to write exams in 8 different subjects. He is declared fail if he fails in at least one subject. The number of ways in which he can fail is
  1. 127
  2. 256
  3. 255
  4. 7

Solution

The number of ways, in which student can fail $=$ Number of ways, he can (fail in 1 exam + fail in 2 exams $+\ldots . . .+$ fail in 8 exams) $\begin{aligned} & ={ }^8 \mathcal{C}_1+{ }^8 \mathcal{C}_2+{ }^8 \mathcal{C}_3+\ldots+{ }^8 \mathcal{C}_8 \\ & =2^8-{ }^8 \mathcal{C}_0 \\ & \quad\left[\because{ }^n C_0+{ }^n C_1+{ }^n C_n=2^n\right] \\ & =256-1=255\end{aligned}$

Asked in: AP EAMCET 2021 (25 Aug Shift 2)

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