There are twenty dogs competing in a dog show. A first place, second place, and third place winner will be chosen as well as a notable mention. How many different ways can these four dogs be chosen?
do i multiply and divide or just multiply?

Question

There are twenty dogs competing in a dog show. A first place, second place, and third place winner will be chosen as well as a notable mention. How many different ways can these four dogs be chosen?
do i multiply and divide or just multiply?

anonymous · Answer

multiply.
20x19x18x17

anonymous · Answer

is it up to 17 or 16 i thought 20-4 16 ??

anonymous · Answer

okay, there are only 4 places right?

anonymous · Answer

yes

anonymous · Answer

so you start out by drawing four line like this:|dw:1337392664988:dw|
then you start from twenty going down|dw:1337392686760:dw|
the numbers that fill in those available spots then get multiplied so you can see how many possible ways something can be arranged