In how many ways can the ice hockey team be formed

combinationscombinatorics

A ice hockey team consists of 1 goaltender, 2 defencemen and 3 forwards. The coach has available to him: 3 goaltenders, 7 defencemen, 10 forwards and 4 players that can play both position of a defenceman and a forward. In how many ways can the team be formed?


If there would not be players that can play two positions the solution would be:

$$\binom{3}{1}\cdot \binom{7}{2}\cdot \binom{10}{3} = 7560$$

ways. So my question is how do I take the 4 players that can play two different positions into account in the calculation? Obviously if the four players has been chosen to be defencemen, they can't be chosen to be forwards.

Best Answer

Consider cases depending on the number of players who can play either position are used.

Suppose exactly $k$ players who can play either position are used, where $0 \leq k \leq 4$. If $d$ of these $k$ players are selected to play defense, where $0 \leq d \leq 2$, then the remaining $k - d = f$ of these players must play forward, where $0 \leq f \leq 3$. If $d$ of the players who could play two positions play defense, then the remaining $2 - d$ defensive players must be selected from the $7$ players who only play defense. If $f$ of the players who could play two positions play forward, then the remaining $3 - f$ forwards must be selected from $10$ players who only play forward. The goalie must be selected from one of the three players who only play goalie. Hence, if $k$ players who could play either defense or forward are selected to play on the team and $d$ of these $k$ players are selected to play defense, then the number of ways to form such a team is $$\binom{3}{1}\binom{4}{k}\binom{k}{d}\binom{7}{2 - d}\binom{10}{3 - f}$$ I will leave it to you to finish the calculations.