ShmoopTube

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Come shmoop with us...

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How many different outfits can be made from

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a choice between three different shirts, four different pairs of pants, and three pairs

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of shoes? For now, don't worry about clashing.

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And here are the potential answers...

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OK so what is this question asking?

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It's really about figuring out totals in probability questions.

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Like... if we have 3 dice with 6 sides, how many possible outcomes are there?

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Well there are 6 times 6 times 6... whatever that is.

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In this case, if we really want the gory details, we can make 3 columns which look like this:

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Let's just pick some colors to make life easier.

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OK, so in shirts we have pink, green and yellow. Yeah, this is Buffy's closet.

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In pants, we have brown, black, blue and white.

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And in shoes we have orange, yellow and purple. That's one way to make a statement.

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So if we wanted to just brute force the process, we could take choice 1 in each column like this.

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Then all choice 1 in shirts and pants... but taking the 2nd choice in shoes.

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Then roll again and take the 3rd choice in shoes.

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And if we lather rinse repeat the whole way through, it'd look like this.

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ORRR... We could just multiply 3 times 4 times 3 and get 36...

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...which is the total number of choices.

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The right answer is E.

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As in, "Evening wear."

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