For use to be able to determine how many ways can first, second, and third place be awarded to 3 contestants, we will be using the permutation formula.
Where,
P = the number of permutations
n = total number of objects in the set = 3 contestants = 3
r = number of choosing objects from the set = 1st, 2nd & 3rd place = 3
We get,
Therefore, there are 6 possible ways can first, second and third place be awarded to 3 contestants.
The answer is 6.