Shurley bought a new bed and now needs to find pillows, sheets, and a comforter for it. She wants to have black or white pillows; striped or plaid sheets; and a solid, polka-dot, or zebra-print comforter. How many unique bedding combinations can Shurley make?

12

Step-by-step explanation:

The fundamental counting principle states that to find the total number of combinations, we multiply the choices for each element.

She can choose between 2 types of pillows; 2 types of sheets; and 3 types of comforters. This gives us

2 (2) (3) = 4 (3) = 12

There are 2 different pillows, 2 different sheets and 3 different comforters.

Multiply all the choices together to find all the combinations:

Total combinations: 2 x 2 x 3 = 12

There are 12 different combinations.