Question

Which situation involves permutations?
Group of answer choices

choosing 3 flavors of ice cream out of 15 for an ice-cream sundae

choosing first-, second-, and third-place winners in a cooking contest

choosing a dozen flowers out of 30 to create a bouquet

choosing 5 people out of 15 to participate in a survey

Answer 1

The second choice: "choosing first-, second-, and third-place winners in a cooking contest."

Reason: permutations are used when order matters (1st vs 2nd vs 3rd). The others are combinations (order does not matter). The number of ways here would be nP3 = n!/(n−3)! (if n is the number of contestants).