Flavor-Topping-Size combinations

combinatorics

An ice cream shop has 4 flavors of ice cream, 7 optional toppings, and three sizes. If a customer can select up to two flavors, how many distinct flavor-topping-size combinations are there?

I think the answer is $4^2 \cdot 2^7 \cdot 3$

The answer key says $72 \cdot 2^7$

Why the discrepancy?

Best Answer

For me, the real challenge is how to reverse-engineer the problem composer's mistaken factor of $(24)$, for the number of ways of choosing the two flavors.

This is my speculative explanation.
There are actually $(5)$ flavors, with the $5$th flavor representing (void). So, you start with an enumeration of $(5)^2$, for the total number of ways of choosing two of the $(5)$ flavors, with replacement.

Here, it is presumed that the order of selection is relevant, in that vanilla on top of chocolate is presumed different than chocolate on top of vanilla.

Then, presumably, the problem composer deducted $(1)$ to get $(25 - 1 = 24)$, reasoning that you can not have both flavors be void. This analysis overlooks the effect of gravity. That is, having the first flavor be void and the second flavor be chocolate results in the same ice cream cone as having the first flavor be chocolate and the second flavor be void.

So, you have to deduct $(4)$ from the problem composer's enumeration, because the problem composer (for example) counted (void + vanilla) as distinct from (vanilla + void).

Here, my suggested enumeration of

$$(5)^2 - 1 - 4 = 20$$

for the number of flavors presumes that (for example) two scoops of vanilla is distinct from one scoop of vanilla.


The alternative way of arriving at the enumeration of $(20)$ would be to start with the assumption that there are exactly $(2)$ scoops, which yields $(4)^2$. Then, you add $(4)$ for the number of ways of having only $(1)$ scoop.