The lock is numbered from 0 to 49. Each combination uses three numbers in a right, left, right pattern. Find the total number of possible combinations for the lock.
This would be a counting principle problem.
You have 3 positions to fill and 50 choices to go into those 3 positions.
For position 1 you have 50 choices, for position 2 you have 50 choices, and for position 3 you have 50 choices, so
50 50 50 = 125,000 possible combinations