1. The problem is to calculate the factorial of 3, denoted as $3!$. 2. The factorial of a positive integer $n$ is the product of all positive integers from 1 to $n$. The formula is: $$n! = n \times (n-1) \times (n-2) \times \cdots \times 1$$ 3. Applying this to $3!$: $$3! = 3 \times 2 \times 1$$ 4. Calculate step-by-step: $$3 \times 2 = 6$$ $$6 \times 1 = 6$$ 5. Therefore, the value of $3!$ is: $$3! = 6$$