There are 9 people on a basketball team, and the coach needs to choose 5 to put into a game. How many different possible ways can the coach choose a team of 5 if each person has an equal chance of being selected?
This is a combination problem. We need to find the number of ways to choose 5 out of 9 people, without regard to order. This is written as 9 choose 5 or ${9 \choose 5}$.
Using the formula for combinations, we have:
${9 \choose 5} = \frac{9!}{5!4!} = \frac{9\times8\times7\times6\times5}{5\times4\times3\times2\times1} = 126$
Therefore, there are 126 different possible ways the coach can choose a team of 5.