SInce their are 8 athletes and 8 positions we can assume this: The first sprinter has 8 positions to end in, the next has 7 places to finish in, the third has 6 places and so on... Using this we can multiply these possibilities to find that the possibilities are 8×7×6×5×4×3×2 which results in 40320 (this function is known as a factorial and denoted !).
