Question

Baldwin's family is going to get a hamster, but first they need to buy the supplies. The pet store has 2 cages and 5 kinds of wood shavings to cover the floor of the cage. There are 2 kinds of water bottles. How many different ways can Baldwin's family set up a home for their hamster?

Answer 1

To solve this problem it is necessary to use the multiplication counting rule, that states that if there are two events a and b, the total number of outcomes will be a times b (a*b).

In this case, the total number of outcomes will be the product of the number of options for each event (cages, kinds of wood shavings and water bottles).

$2\cdot5\cdot2=20$

Baldwin's family can set up a home for their hamster in 20 different ways.