Question

There are 18 skaters competing in the competition. How many ways can they win the gold, silver, and bronze medal?

Answer 1

Only one person can win gold, silver, and bronze. The order of the winner does matter. So it’ll be 18 times 17 times 16.

Answer 2

Answer: 4,896

Stwhiep-by-step explanation:

Given, There are 18 skaters competing in the competition.

To find : The number of ways in which they can win gold, silver, and bronze medal.

Since, in distribution of medals(gold, silver, and bronze) we require 3 winners in a particular order, so for this we use Permutations.

According to permutation , number of ways of selecting r things out of n = $\dfrac{n!}{(n-r)!}$

Then, The number of ways in which 18 skaters can win 3 medals= $\dfrac{18!}{(18-3)!}=\dfrac{18\times17\times16\times15!}{15!}=4,896$

Hence, the required number of ways =4,896