Question

In horse racing, a trifecta is a type of bet. To win a trifecta bet, you need to specify the horses that finish in the top three spots in the exact order in which they finish. If eight horses enter the race, how many different ways can they finish in the top three spots

Answer 1

Answer: 336 different ways

Explanation:

Ok, we have a total of 8 horses, and we have 3 places.

First, second, third.

The total number of combinations will be equal to the product of the number of possible options that we have in each place.

For the first place, we could have any of the 8 horses, so there are 8 possible options.

For the second place, we will have 7 horses (because one is already in the first place) then here we have 7 options.

For the third place, we will have 6 horses (because one is in the first place and another is in second place) then here we have 6 options.

The total number of different ways in which the horses can finish is:

C = 8*7*6 = 336 different ways