Final answer:
The sample space consists of all possible outcomes when a penny, a nickel, and a dime are tossed, resulting in 8 total elements (combinations of heads and tails for each coin).
Step-by-step explanation:
The question involves determining the set of all possible outcomes (sample space) when a penny, a nickel, and a dime are tossed once. Since each coin has two sides (heads and tails), the sample space would consist of all the possible combinations of heads and tails for each coin.
By listing out all the combinations, we find:
Therefore, the total number of elements in the sample space is 8, which we get by multiplying the number of possible outcomes for each coin (2 choices per coin raised to the power of the number of coins, so 2^3).