In planning a morning reception, the host must choose $2$ out of $5$ fruit options, $3$ out of $6$ bagel options, and $2$ out of $4$ muffin options. In how many ways can this be done?
So, I'm thinking this would be permutations but I'm still not sure how to solve it from there.
This is a combination, since it sounds like order does not matter. If these were being lined up or something like that, then it would be a permutation, but it sounds like we only care which ones are chosen.
So: $${4 \choose 2} \times {6 \choose 3} \times {4 \choose 2}$$