Every morning, a deli offers a “commuter special” in which customers can select a pastry, beverage, and a copy of one of the local papers and pay $1.00. Their options are listed in the table.Last Tuesday, the deli did not have any muffins. How did that affect the number of possible combinations?A. It decreased the number of combinations by 1.B. It decreased the number of combinations by 4.C. It decreased the number of combinations by 8.D. It decreased the number of combinations by 10.

To find the number of possible combinations, you multiple the possible number of outcomes for each category together. For example, there are 5 choices of pastries, 4 choices of drinks, and 2 newspaper choices, so normally there are 5 x 4 x 2=40 possible combinations. Without a muffin, these numbers would change to 4 x 4 x 2=32. The difference would be 8 possible options, so choice C.