A ski store has 60 different boots available, 30 different pairs of skis, and 40 different hats. If a customer were to only buy ONE item, how many different ways can a customer purchase an item from the store?

In this question, the client will buy one item, which is composed by a boot, a pair of skis and a hat. Since the items are independent, the fundamental counting principle can be used.

Fundamental counting principle:

States that if there are p ways to do a thing, and q ways to do another thing, and these two things are independent, there are p*q ways to do both things.

In this question:

60 boots, 30 pairs of skis, 40 hats. So

60*30*40 = 72,000

The customer can purchase an item in 72,000 ways from the store.

For another example of the fundamental counting principle, you can check