Given:
Total number of food cans = 12
Cans of Beets = 8
Cans of corn = 3
Can of beans = 1
To find:
How many distinct orders can the cans be arranged if two cans of the same food are considered identical.
Solution:
To find the distinct ways arrangement, we have a formula:
...(i)
Where, n is the number of objects and
are repeated objects.
Total number of food cans is 12. So,
.
She has 8 cans of beets. So, 
She has 3 cans of corns. So, 
She has 1 can of beans. So, 
Substituting these values in (i), we get




Therefore, the number of distinct orders to arrange the cans is 1980.