The Standard Automotive car company offers its midsize car with 2 doors, 4 doors, or as a convertible. The car is available in 3 exterior colors and 2 interior colors. Find the number of different midsize cars the company can produce.

To do this problem we can use the fundamental counting principle that states in general if you have a series of choices to make, you find the total possible outcomes of the choices by multiplying the number of options for each choice together ... So if follows:

choices for midsize car:

two door or four door or convertible: 3 options

exterior colors: 3 options

interior color: 2 options

Total combined options considering the three choices:

3 (3) (2) = 18 different midsize cars possible.