(a) 52 athletes are running a race. A gold medal is to be given to the winner, a silver medal is to be given to the second-place finisher, and a bronze medal is to be given to the third-place finisher. Assume that there are no ties. In how many possible ways can the 3 medals be distributed?
(b) A company has 40 salespeople. A board member at the company asks for a list of the top 5 salespeople, ranked in order of effectiveness. How many such rankings are possible?
