Question 333044
five horses compete in a race how many selection are there of the first two horses to pass the finishing
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not exactly know what you mean by "...first two horses to pass the finishing",
but I'll assume you mean the first two horses end up 1st or 2nd place.
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Think of this as two group of horses, the first two horses and the remainig 3.
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there are 2! ways to order the first two horses, and 3! ways to order remaining 3
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there are 2!*3!=2*3*2=12 ways to have the first two horses to end up 1st and 2nd.