Question

la wedding caterers offers a wedding reception buffet. suppose a menu is planned around five different salads, seven entrees, five side dishes, and eight desserts. there are eight different choices of salads, ten different choices of entrees, eight different choices of side dishes, and ten different choices of desserts. how many menus are possible? 8400 × menus

Explanation:

Step1: Identify independent choices

We have 4 categories of menu items, each with independent options: salads (8 choices), entrees (10 choices), side dishes (8 choices), desserts (10 choices).

Step2: Apply multiplication principle

Multiply the number of choices for each category to find total menus.
$\text{Total menus} = 8 \times 10 \times 8 \times 10$

Step3: Calculate the product

First compute $8 \times 10 = 80$, then $8 \times 10 = 80$, then multiply those results: $80 \times 80 = 6400$

Answer:

6400