There are 5 members on a board of directors. If they must elect a chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer, how many different slates of candidates are possible?

60

Step-by-step explanation:

To begin, we can look at combinations and permutations. A permutation or combination is when we need to find how many possibilities there are to choose a certain amount of objects (in this case, candidates) given an array of options (members on the board)

Combinations are when the order doesn't matter, and permutations are when the order does matter. Here, we know that we care whether someone is chairperson or secretary. If we were to just choose three for an "elite" board, and there were no specific positions in the board, then order would not matter. However, because it does matter which person gets which role, order does matter.

Assuming that someone cannot have more than one role, we know that this is a permutation without repetition. The formula for this is

(n!) / (n-r)!, where we have to choose from n number of people and choose r number of people. We have 5 members to choose from, and 3 people to choose, making our equation

(5!) / (5-3)! = 120 / 2! = 120/2 = 60

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step-by-step explanation: