Question

You want to buy 3 pencils. There are 3 blue pencils, 7 red pencils, and 5 green pencils. How many ways can you pick pencils with at least 2 different colors?

Answer 1

There are three possible colors, so:
\[
3\cdot2\cdot3=18
\]Since, once we pick one color, we must pick the remaining two colors. In end, the third pencil can be any of the three colors, so we multiply by three, and we're done.

Answer 2

@jim_thompson5910

Answer 3

@Denebel @mathmate @lolwolf that isn't right

Answer 4

Oh, if we can differentiate between each pencil? That's a 'little' different.

Answer 5

It would be with combinations, but I'm not sure what to do

Answer 6

Got it