Question

Adele is buying a sport utility vehicle. She is trying to choose among a variety of options.

Brand: Brand A or Brand B

Transmission: 4-speed standard, 5-speed standard, or automatic

Bumper: steel, vinyl, or 2x4 boards

Roof: hard top or convertible top

Adele calculates that she has 2 + 3 + 3 + 2, or a total of 10, possible vehicle choices

What is Adele’s error?

Answer 1

Answer:

Adele should have multiplied the total of all the choices.

Explanation:

We are given that Adele is buying a sport utility vehicle and trying to choose a suitable vehicle among the possible variety of options.

She has a choice 2 options for the car brand, 3 options for transmission, 3 options for bumper and 2 options for the roof of the vehicle.

According to Adele, she has a total of 10 choices and we are to determine where did she make an error.

Adele should have multiplied the total of all the choices because she it would give her different combinations among the options for each category.

Answer 2

Answer: Adele should have multiplied the total of all the choices.

Explanation:

Take the following as deciding factors:

BRAND: A or B

TRANSMISSION: 4-speed standard, 5-speed standard, or automatic

BUMPER: steel, vinyl, or 2x4 boards

ROOF: hard top or convertible top

Therefore, in other to calculate the possible vehicle choices available ;

BRAND variety ×TRANSMISSION variety × BUMPER variety × ROOF variety

2 × 3 × 3 × 2 = 36 possible choices.

Multiplying the option variety of each factor will allow for different combination of each of the option levels.