The general gist of the question:

Peter has to go to an office store, an electronics store, a clothing store, and a sporting store. There are 4 office stores, 4 electronic stores, 8 clothing stores and 5 sporting stores. How many combinations are there?

Do I need to do a factorial? Or just multiply the numbers?

Thanks!!!

3 answers

just multiply the numbers
I don't think you just multiply the numbers for this one. If the question said that he was going to all 4 office stores, all 4 electronic stores, all 8 clothing stores, and all 5 sporting goods stores and asked how many ways can he do that, then you would multiply them all together. That is not what the question is asking however.
. Jim can fill a pool carrying buckets of water in 30 minutes. Courtney can do the same job in 45 minutes. Bob can do the same job in 1 ½ hours. How quickly can all three fill the pool together?