Center Focus

Combinations

  1. Prepare a chart showing different possible choices for assembling a sandwich; for example, list three different kinds of breads, such as: wheat, rye, sourdough. Also have different selections for cheeses and meats.
  2. Have your students figure out how many different possible sandwiches there are. You should use more choices for more advanced students.
  3. They should write out all of the different ways that one can make a sandwich, i.e. wheat, provolone cheese, salami.
  4. After students have written down all of the combinations, have them total them up and see if they can make any connections between the number of choices and the total number of combinations possible. They should come to the conclusion that you multiply the number of choices in each category by each other. For example if you had 3 selections of bread, cheese, and meat, the total number of combinations would be 3^3, or 27.