How many ways can first, second, and third place be assigned? At a gymnastics meet, twenty gymnasts compete for first, second, and third place.

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Mathematics

Timothy Mueller

22 October, 03:38

How many ways can first, second, and third place be assigned? At a gymnastics meet, twenty gymnasts compete for first, second, and third place.

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Jeffery Mays · Answer 1

Since this is a competition, that means that the order of the rankings are important. So, that means it's a permutation, not a combination. A combination would be when the order does not matter. The formula to find the amount of outcomes of a permutation is, in this case n = the amount of gymnastics, and r is the amount of positions. P (n, r) = n! / (n-r) !