There are 25 horses in a racing competition. You can have race among 5 horses in a particular race. What would be the minimum number of races that will be required to determine the 1st, 2nd and 3rd fastest horses?

• 5 race for 25 horses,in each race take the first coming horse(which is fastest).so for 5 race there will be 5 fastest horses,keep the race among those 5,u will get top 1,top 2,top 3.so the minimum num races will be 6
• 9 years agoHelpfull: Yes(2) No(1)
• 7 races as Make group of 5 horses and run 5 races.Suppose five groups are a,b,c,d,e and next alphabet is its individual rank in tis group(of 5 horses).for eg. d3 means horse in group d and has rank 3rd in his group. [ 5 RACES DONE ]
  a1 b1 c1 d1 e1
  a2 b2 c2 d2 e2
  a3 b3 c3 d3 e3
  a4 b4 c4 d4 e4
  a5 b5 c5 d5 e5
  Now make a race of (a1,b1,c1,d1,e1).[RACE 6 DONE] suppose result is a1>b1>c1>d1>e1
  which implies a1 must be FIRST.
  b1 and c1 MAY BE(but not must be) 2nd and 3rd.
  FOR II position,horse will be either b1 or a2
  (we have to fine top 3 horse therefore we choose horses b1,b2,a2,a3,c1 do racing among them [RACE 7 DONE].the only possibilities are :
  c1 may be third
  b1 may be second or third
  b2 may be third
  a2 may be second or third
  a3 may be third
  The final result will give ANSWER. suppoose result is a2>a3>b1>c1>b2
  then answer is a1,a2,a3.
  HENCE ANSWER is 7 RACES
• 9 years agoHelpfull: Yes(1) No(1)
• @ANANYA L.H answer is 7 correct answer by PRADEEP
• 9 years agoHelpfull: Yes(1) No(1)