You have 7 balls that are each a different color of the rainbow. In how many distinct ways can these balls be ordered?

To solve this question, use a factorial. This is a basic concept in permutations. The first ball can be placed into any of the 7 positions. The second can be placed in 6. The third can be placed in 5, and so on until there are no balls left. One easy way to solve this is to use 7!, or seven factorial. 7! = 7*6*5*4*3*2*1. The answer is 5,040 distinct ways.

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