I have the following problem:
$_xC_6$ = $_xC_4$
I expand both sides to: $\frac{x!}{[(x-6)!]6!} = \frac{x!}{[(x-4)]!4!}$
Next I multiply both sides by the denominator of the right-hand expression to get:
$\frac{x![(x-4)!]4!}{[(x-6)!]6!}=x!$
At this point things start to become a mess, so I'm wondering if these first few steps are correct.
EDIT: Similar, but different, problem:
$_{12}C_4 = _xC_8$ translates to: $\frac{12!}{8!4!}=\frac{x!}{(x-8)!8!}$
First, I multiply both sides by $8!$ to get:
$ \frac{12!}{4!}=\frac{x!}{(x-8)!} $
Then I reduce/simplify the RHS to get: $ \frac{12!}{4!}=(x-7)! $ (I'm not completely confident this step is correct)
Here's where I get stuck. The LHS=19,958,400 but I can't figure out how to manipulate the factorial on the RHS to get to just $x$.
Thanks in advance!