Question

A restaurant offers six kinds of main courses, eight types of drinks, and three types of desserts. How many different meals consisting of a main course, a drink, and a dessert does the restaurant offer?

Answer 1

The restaurant offers 144 different meals consisting of a main course, a drink, and a dessert, which is calculated by multiplying the number of options for each category: 6 main courses, 8 drinks, and 3 desserts.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question is about finding the total number of different meals a restaurant can offer based on their available options for main courses, drinks, and desserts. To find this, we use the basic principle of counting, which is also known as the fundamental counting principle. This principle states that if there are n ways to do one thing, and m ways to do another, then there are n × m ways to do both things together.

Applying this principle to the given problem:

• The restaurant offers 6 kinds of main courses.
• There are 8 types of drinks available.
• They have 3 types of desserts to choose from.

To calculate the total number of possible meals:

1. Multiply the number of main courses by the number of drinks: 6 × 8 = 48 combinations of main courses and drinks.
2. Multiply that result by the number of desserts: 48 × 3 = 144.

So, the restaurant offers 144 different meals consisting of a main course, a drink, and a dessert.