a stock can go up,go down,or stay unchanged.how many possibilities are there if you own 10 stocks?
For each stock, there are 3 possibilities: it can go up, go down, or stay unchanged.
Therefore, for 1 stock, there are 3 possibilities.
For 2 stocks, there are 3 possibilities for the first stock multiplied by 3 possibilities for the second stock, giving a total of 3 x 3 = 9 possibilities.
Similarly, for 3 stocks, there are 3 x 3 x 3 = 27 possibilities.
By extension, for 10 stocks, there would be a total of 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 59,049 possibilities.