Question Statement :

Praneet was given the task to make three people: P, Q, and R to sit on three chairs C1, C2, and C3. He divided this task further into three steps as listed below:

            Column 1                      Column 2                     

            Step 1                          (a) Make one of the three sit on one of the three empty chairs.

            Step 2                          (b) Make the second person sit on any one of the two remaining chairs.

            Step 3                          (c) Make the third person sit on the last chair.

In how many ways can he do the 1^st step?

Type in your answer as an integer. For example, if your answer is 2, type in 2