Question

In a running competition, a bronze, silver and gold medal must be given to the top three girls and top three boys. If 7 boys and 14 girls are competing, how many different ways could the six medals possibly be given out?​

Answer 1

there are 458640 different ways to award the six medals.

Explanation:

There are two distinct groups in the competition, boys and girls. The order in which the medals are awarded to the groups does not matter, so we can count the number of ways to award medals to the boys and the girls separately, and then multiply the results.

For the boys, there are 7 possible candidates for the gold medal. Once the gold medalist is chosen, there are 6 remaining candidates for the silver medal, and 5 candidates for the bronze medal. So, there are 7 x 6 x 5 = 210 ways to award medals to the boys.

Similarly, for the girls, there are 14 possible candidates for the gold medal. Once the gold medalist is chosen, there are 13 remaining candidates for the silver medal, and 12 candidates for the bronze medal. So, there are 14 x 13 x 12 = 2184 ways to award medals to the girls.

To get the total number of ways to award the six medals, we multiply the number of ways to award medals to the boys by the number of ways to award medals to the girls:

Total number of ways = 210 x 2184 = 458640

Therefore, there are 458640 different ways to award the six medals.