Let A, B, and C denote the sets of students that have taken calculus, sociology, and Spanish, respectively.
We're given that [tex]A\cup B\cup C[/tex] consists of 187 students.
We want to find the size of [tex]A\cap B\cap C[/tex], given that
• A has 61 students;
• B has 78;
• C has 72;
• [tex]A\cap B[/tex] has 15;
• [tex]A\cap C[/tex] has 20; and
• [tex]B\cap C[/tex] has 13.
Using the inclusion/exclusion principle, we have
[tex]|A\cup B\cup C|=|A|+|B|+|C|-(|A\cap B|+|A\cap C|+|B\cap C|)+|A\cap B\cap C|[/tex]
where |X| denotes the size of the set X. Plug in all the known sizes:
[tex]187=61+78+72-(15+20+13)+|A\cap B\cap C|[/tex]
[tex]\implies|A\cap B\cap C|=24[/tex]
so 24 students have taken all three classes.