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Bunuel
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Bunuel
A copy shop offers copies on 5 colors of paper, each of which comes in 4 finishes. If a company gets 2 newsletters copied on different paper, there are how many distinct possible combinations of newsletter, color, and finish?

(A) 40
(B) 20
(C) 11
(D) 10
(E) 5

Hi Team,
I was wondering if you could help me to understand this question. I got this one wrong by picking "B" because I thought that "how many distinct possible combinations" meant that if there were Newsletter A in Blue and Newsletter B in Red this combination would be the same as if there were Newsletter A in Red and Newsletter B in Blue. Therefore, you should not be multiplying by 2 because you don't want to count the same combination twice.
How could I make sure to not make the same mistake again?
Thanks !

Your assessment is in my opinion accurate. I agree with you. The number of combinations remains constant. If the question instead had asked something along the lines of what's the total number of combinations available that A and B chose from independent of each other, then yeah 40.
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Bunuel
A copy shop offers copies on 5 colors of paper, each of which comes in 4 finishes. If a company gets 2 newsletters copied on different paper, there are how many distinct possible combinations of newsletter, color, and finish?

(A) 40
(B) 20
(C) 11
(D) 10
(E) 5

Hi Team,
I was wondering if you could help me to understand this question. I got this one wrong by picking "B" because I thought that "how many distinct possible combinations" meant that if there were Newsletter A in Blue and Newsletter B in Red this combination would be the same as if there were Newsletter A in Red and Newsletter B in Blue. Therefore, you should not be multiplying by 2 because you don't want to count the same combination twice.
How could I make sure to not make the same mistake again?
Thanks !

Your assessment is in my opinion accurate. I agree with you. The number of combinations remains constant. If the question instead had asked something along the lines of what's the total number of combinations available that A and B chose from independent of each other, then yeah 40.
CEdward Baps
I did got stuck with B for sometime and i see no issue in your analysis.
But there's a finer detail that i think is being missed here.
In the question itself, it is mentioned "distinct possible combinations of newsletter, color, and finish" where in the three distinct things are highlighted in different colors.

Distinctness is not about color and finish only. So, how can Newsletter A in Blue and Newsletter B in Red combination be same as Newsletter A in Red and Newsletter B in Blue.

Hope now it makes sense.
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