Ted is hosting a dinner party. He has a the choice of serving chicken, pasta, or hamburgers for the main course;carrots, lettuce salad, or pineapple for the side dish; and ice cream or cookies for dessert.
How many combinations of one main course, one side dish, and one dessert could Ted serve? If Ted chooses his menu at random, what is the probablility that he will serve pineapple for the side dish?
I think Ted can serve 18 combinations. I multiplied 3 by 3 by 2. I think the probablilty for pineapple will be 1/3.
I agree
Yes, you are right.
To find the number of combinations for the main course, side dish, and dessert, you correctly multiplied the number of options for each category.
For the main course, there are 3 options (chicken, pasta, hamburgers).
For the side dish, there are also 3 options (carrots, lettuce salad, pineapple).
For the dessert, there are 2 options (ice cream, cookies).
To find the total number of combinations, you multiply these numbers: 3 (main course options) x 3 (side dish options) x 2 (dessert options) = 18 combinations.
So, you are correct that there are 18 possible combinations that Ted could serve.
Now, let's determine the probability of Ted serving pineapple for the side dish. Since there are 3 options for the side dish and one of them is pineapple, the probability of serving pineapple is the number of favorable outcomes (1) divided by the total number of possible outcomes (3).
Therefore, the probability of serving pineapple for the side dish is 1/3, as you correctly stated.