Solution:
1. Given set: \{ m, a, t, h \}
2. We need to find the number of ways to select 3 elements from this 4-element set.
3. Use the combinations formula, which is given by: \binom{n}{r} = \frac{n!}{r!(n-r)!}, where n is the total number of items, and r is the number of items to choose.
4. Here, n = 4 and r = 3.
5. Compute the number of combinations:
\binom{4}{3} = \frac{4!}{3! \cdot (4-3)!}
= \frac{4!}{3! \cdot 1!}
= \frac{4 \cdot 3 \cdot 2 \cdot 1}{3 \cdot 2 \cdot 1 \cdot 1}
= \frac{24}{6}
= 4.
6. Therefore, there are 4 different combinations.
The combinations are:
- \{m, a, t\}
- \{m, a, h\}
- \{m, t, h\}
- \{a, t, h\}