Thinking Of very hard

Question

In a race which five automobile are entered and there are no ties in how many ways can the first three finishers come in

Answer 1

If what I was thinking and everybody else is thinking is correct then it is simply 5P3 = 60. This is the number of ways 3 random cars from the 5 finishes 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

 

HOWEVER, if the question means that the first three finishers are fixed then

First, look at the first 3 finishers, 3P3 = 6, since this is short, you can actually list the outcomes (abc,acb,bac,bca,cab,cba) <- 6. So what's left are the 4th and 5th place, which will have only of course 2 ways either de or ed so it will be 2*6 = 12.

 

^

and that kids is what happens when you have too much math, you overthink. I hope the answer is simply 60.