GCSE maths question help

i’m guessing it’s because there are 2 people in a pair, before you divided it by 2 that would have been the total number of people and the final answer was how many pairs

Isn't it because there will be two of each combination - ie male 1 and male 15 is the same pair as male 15 with male 1?

ok i now understand it:

17x16 gives you all the pairs possible, however there are 2 people in a pair, so the answer must be halved (hence the division by 2)
I hope this helps you understand if not, say and i will try to explain it better

Cant u say the same with part A. And part A didn’t divide by 2

No because you're picking a male then a female - they're not in the same category ie Male 4 and Female 7 is different to Male 7 and Female 4. In the second part you're picking two random males.

How is male 4 and female 7 different to male 7 and female 4. They are the same thing. So I don’t see why u don’t halve this one too

Because male 4 and male 7 are two totally different people.

What I meant to say is how is male 4 and female 7 different to female 7 and male 4

It isn't.

Imagine you've got all the names in a bag - all the males in one bag and all the females in the other bag.

If you pick a male and a female, the only variation you can get is say male 7 and female 2. There is only one way you can select male 7 and female 2 because you're selecting one from each of the bags,

If you pick two males from the same bag, you could get male 2 and male 3 or male 3 then male 2. They're from the same bag and so are the same combination. There are two possible ways you could get male 2 and 3.

But u could get female 2 and male 7 and they are the same as male 7 and female 2

How is male 4 and female 7 different to male 7 and female 4. They are the same thing. So I don’t see why u don’t halve this one too