Given (item 1, item 2, item 3, item 4) with each item having 3 different possibl

Question

Given (item 1, item 2, item 3, item 4) with each item having 3 different possible states >, <, or =. As an example possibility #1 (>,>,>,>) or possibility #2(>,=,>,>) or possibility#3 (=,>,<,>) etc...

How many different combinations can be created?

Whoever keeps answering my question and saying that there are 4 different ways is wrong!

For example (>,>,>,>), (>,>,>,<), (>,>,<,>), (>,<,>,>), (<,>,>,>), (<,<,>,>), (<,>,<,>),(<,>,>,<),(<,<,<,>),(<,<,<,>), (<,<,>,<),(<,<,<,<,),(<, =,<,<), (=, <,<,<),(<,<,=,<)...etc..
Those are all different possible combinations of the 4 different items (each with the different states of being).
So what I want to know is what's the total number of different combinations? I just listed 15 different combinations to start. So the answer cannot be 4.

Explanation / Answer

Each item has 3 possibilities: (>,<,=)

All total 4 items are there.

Hence total number of different possible combinations are:

3*3*3*3=3^4=81.

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