Suppose 40 cars start at a car race. in how many ways can the top 3 cars finish the race?

Hello Athena...

Any of the 40 cars can finish first

Any of the 39 cars can finish second

Any of the 38 cars can finish third

40 x 39 x 38 = 59,280

Answer - There are 59,280 ways the top 3 cars can finish the race.

3. parallelogram

step-by-step explanation:

we turn each of our sides into direction vectors

ab=b-a=(3 - 7, 1 - 0) = (-4, 1)

bc=c-b=(1,6)

cd=d-c=(4,-1)

da=a-d=(-1,-6)

we see how the opposite sides have negated direction vectors; this is characteristic of a parallelogram.   we have congruent sides ab=cd and bc=da with unequal lengths because 1^2+6^2 is different from (-4)^2+1^2.   so it's not a square or a rhombus.  

we check the dot product of direction vectors of adjacent sides.   we have

ab dot bc = -4(1) + 1(6) = 2

that's not zero so the sides are not perpendicular.   we've ruled out rectangle.

the direction vectors indicate two pairs of congruent parallel sides, so we choose parallelogram over trapezoid.

step-by-step explanation:

∆abc has the points a(1, 7), b(-2, 2), and c(4, 2) as its vertices. formed with the point d(1, 2) as its third vertex, then ∆abd is triangle.