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NCERT Exemplar · Q47

Q.In a football championship, 153153 matches were played. Every two teams played one match with each other. The number of teams, participating in the championship is ______.

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The problem asks for the number of teams given the total matches played, where every two teams played one match. This is a combination problem (nC2^nC_2), leading to a quadratic equation whose positive solution gives the number of teams as 18\boxed{18}.

When "every two teams played one match with each other," it means that each match is formed by selecting a unique pair of teams from the total pool of teams. The order in which we pick the two teams for a match does not matter; a match between Team A and Team B is the same as a match between Team B and Team A. This scenario is a classic application of combinations, where we are choosing a subset of items from a larger set without regard to their order.

Here, we need to find the total number of teams, let's call this nn. From these nn teams, we are forming groups of 22 teams to play a match. The total number of such unique pairs (matches) is given as 153153.

Here is the step-by-step solution:

  1. Identify the mathematical concept: The problem describes a situation where we are selecting groups of 2 teams from a larger set of nn teams, and the order of selection does not matter. This is precisely the definition of a combination. If the order mattered (e.g., if Team A playing Team B was different from Team B playing Team A, perhaps home vs. away), it would be a permutation. But for a single match, order is irrelevant.

  2. Define the variable: Let nn be the total number of teams participating in the championship.

  3. Formulate the equation: The number of ways to choose 2 teams out of nn teams is given by the combination formula nC2^nC_2. We are told that this number of matches is 153153.

    Therefore, we can write the equation:

    nC2=153^nC_2 = 153

  4. Expand the combination formula: The general formula for combinations is nCr=n!r!(n−r)!^nC_r = \frac{n!}{r!(n-r)!}.

    For our case, r=2r=2, so the formula simplifies to:

    nC2=n!2!(n−2)!=n×(n−1)×(n−2)!2×1×(n−2)!=n(n−1)2^nC_2 = \frac{n!}{2!(n-2)!} = \frac{n \times (n-1) \times (n-2)!}{2 \times 1 \times (n-2)!} = \frac{n(n-1)}{2}

    Substituting this into our equation from step 3:

    n(n−1)2=153\frac{n(n-1)}{2} = 153

  5. Solve the equation for nn:

    Multiply both sides by 22:

    n(n−1)=153×2n(n-1) = 153 \times 2

    n(n−1)=306n(n-1) = 306

    We need to find two consecutive integers whose product is 306306. We can try estimating:

    10×9=9010 \times 9 = 90

    15×14=21015 \times 14 = 210 …

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