A menu offers 2 entrees, 3 main courses, and 3 desserts. How many different combinations of dinner can be made? (A dinner must contain an entrée, a main course , and a desert.)

Options

A. `12`
B. `15`
C. `18`
D. `21`

Answer

To solve the problem of how many different combinations of dinner can be made from the given menu, we can follow these steps:

### Step 1: Identify the Components of the Dinner
A dinner consists of:
- 1 entrée
- 1 main course
- 1 dessert

### Step 2: Determine the Number of Choices for Each Component
From the problem, we know:
- There are 2 choices for the entrée.
- There are 3 choices for the main course.
- There are 3 choices for the dessert.

### Step 3: Calculate the Total Combinations
To find the total number of combinations, we multiply the number of choices for each component together:
\[ \text{Total Combinations} = (\text{Number of Entrées}) \times (\text{Number of Main Courses}) \times (\text{Number of Desserts}) \]
Substituting the values we have:
\[ \text{Total Combinations} = 2 \times 3 \times 3 \]

### Step 4: Perform the Multiplication
First, calculate the number of combinations for the main course and dessert:
\[ 3 \times 3 = 9 \]
Now, multiply this result by the number of entrées:
\[ 2 \times 9 = 18 \]

### Conclusion
Thus, the total number of different combinations of dinner that can be made is **18**.

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