Final answer:
The probability of the school's football team leading the league is 40%, not leading is 60%, and the probability of not coming in first or second is 1 minus the probability W of coming in first or second.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student is asking about the probability of certain events related to their school's football team performance. Here are the answers to the questions:
The probability that the team will lead the league is 40%. This is given by the sportswriters' initial statement.
The probability that the team will not lead the league is the complement of them leading it, which is 100% - 40% = 60%.
For the third question, we use the complement rule. The probability that the team will not come in first or second is 1 - W, where W is the probability of the team coming in first or second.