A student downloaded seven music files to a portable MP3 player. In how many different orders can the songs be played?
To determine the number of different orders in which the songs can be played, we need to calculate the factorial of the number of songs downloaded.
The factorial of a number can be calculated by multiplying that number with all the positive integers less than it, down to 1.
In this case, since there are 7 songs, the factorial of 7 can be calculated as follows:
7! = 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 5040
Therefore, there are 5040 different orders in which the songs can be played.