Investigate!
Suppose you have some number of identical Rubik’s cubes to distribute to your friends. Imagine you start with a single row of the cubes.
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Find the number of different ways you can distribute the cubes provided:
- You have 3 cubes to give to 2 people.
- You have 4 cubes to give to 2 people.
- You have 5 cubes to give to 2 people.
- You have 3 cubes to give to 3 people.
- You have 4 cubes to give to 3 people.
- You have 5 cubes to give to 3 people.
- Make a conjecture about how many different ways you could distribute 7 cubes to 4 people. Explain.
- What if each person were required to get at least one cube? How would your answers change?