In order to develop a more appealing cheeseburger, a franchise uses taste tests with 9 different buns, 8 different cheeses, 4 types of lettuce, and 3 types of tomatoes. If the taste tests were done at one restaurant by one tester who takes 10 minutes to eat each cheeseburger, approximately how long would it take the tester to eat all possible cheeseburgers?

8,640 minutes

Step-by-step explanation:

Re-read the question: "How long would it take the test to eat all possible cheeseburgers?"

What are they asking for?

Total time test all possible burgers

We can break down the answer into a multiplication:

Total time to test all possible burgers =

Time to test each burger x Number of possible burgers

A) Time to test each burger is given - 10 minutes.

B) Number of possible burgers is essentially the total number of combinations of toppings you can have. The order of toppings doesn't matter, so this problem is called a "Combination Problem," as opposed to a "Permutation Problem" which is a problem when order matters.

How do we solve Combination problems?

Just multiply the quantity of each option.

Number of combinations of burger toppings = # bun types x # cheese types x # lettuce types x # tomato types

Number of combinations of burger toppings = 9 x 8 x 4 x 3 = 864

Now plug this into the original equation

Total time to test all possible burgers

= time to test each burger x number of possible burgers

= 10 minutes x 864 possible options

= 8,640 minutes