At a competition with 6 runners, medals are awarded for first, second, and

third places. Each of the 3 medals is different. How many ways are there to

award the medals?

Decide if this is a permutation or a combination, and find the number of ways

to award the medals.

Answer: 120 different ways. It is a permutation.

Step-by-step explanation:

Because 1st, 2nd, and 3rd are different positions and the order of placing matters, this is a permutation. (In Combinations, the order doesn't matter, like in choosing people to be on a team without any positions). The calculation is 6x5x4 because there are 6 competitors who could get first, 5 who could get second (the 6th already has first place), and 4 who could get 3rd (the other two already have 1st and 2nd place).

permutation 120 ways