Space shuttle astronauts each consume an average of 3000 calories per day. one meal normally consists of a main? dish, a vegetable? dish, and two different desserts. the astronauts can choose from 1010 main? dishes, 88 vegetable? dishes, and 1212 desserts. how many different meals are? possible?

For this item, I would assume that the numbers of main dishes, vegetable dishes, and desserts are repeated. We use the basic principle of counting to answer the questions. 

(1) number of ways to choose main dishes: 10
(2) number of ways to choose vegetable dishes: 8
(3) number of ways to choose desserts: 12 x 11 = 121

Then, we multiply the numbers in order to find the answer to the final question: 10 x 8 x 121 = 9,680.