Answer:
The number of ways in which 25 students can reach first, second, and third place is:
- 15511210043330985984000000
Or in scientific notation:
- 1,5511210043330985984X10 ^ 25
Explanation:
In order to know the distribution of a certain number of people or objects in a specific order, combinatorics is usually used by means of the factorial, which is regularly represented by the sign (!), With which having 25 students would write:
- 25! = 15511210043330985984000000
Since it may not be so well known to you, I will also explain how it works: using the factorial is the same as multiplying all the numbers, one by one, less than and equal to the number we have, therefore:
- 25! = 1 * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 * 6 * 7 * 8 * 9 * 10 * 11 * 12 * 13 * 14 * 15 * 16 * 17 * 18 * 19 * 20 * 21 * 22 * 23 * 24 * 25 = 15511210043330985984000000