part A you start at 8 from the first participant then you take away one from the last one. you add up all the numbers up to get the answer. 8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1=36.
part B the first part is 1x1x1x1x1x1x1x1=1. the second part is 8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1= 40,320. the third part is 1/40320
