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There are 51 runners in a race. how many ways can the runner finish first, second and third

1 Answer

1 vote

Answer: 124950

Explanation:

So, let’s look at this logically. For first place, you can any one of the 51 runners finish there. For 2nd place, you can have any one of the remaining 50 runners finish there. For 3rd place, you can have any one of the 49 runners who haven’t finished finish there. runners who haven’t finished finish doesn’t matter .So, you take all of the possibilities, and times them together, 51*50*40 different possibilities.Now, if you want a generic equation, you can run it through this equation, x being the number of possibilities, and n being the number of ones your choosing:


(51!)/(51-3)!

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