The obvious question that comes to mind is: “What are the three beans?” Like most things in life, there is a short answer and a long answer. Ostensibly, the beans included are kidney beans, navy beans, and green beans. But once you dig deeper, these bean classifications start to fall apart and contend with common sense. First of all, the navy bean is actually white. Secondly, what’s the difference between a green bean and a string bean? And lastly, who thought it was a good idea to bring these beans together and serve it as a single dish?

The navy bean is also referred to as a the “white pea bean,” or to some, simply a white bean. These beans are arguably the most important beans to the federal legislature, as they have been served every day for decades. Since other bean varieties are underrepresented in the minds of law makers, it is no wonder that their representation elsewhere suffers as well. Perhaps if the Senate bean soup linked previously rotated its bean inclusion each day or week, we might have found black or pinto beans in this three bean salad.

The green vs string bean debate rages on in academic circles, with no end in sight. For all practical purposes, it turns out that green beans and string beans are the same thing, and the distinction between the two utterly meaningless. This is bad enough on its own, but then you bring snap beans into the mix, and the situation becomes ridiculous. Another bean, but it’s not another bean because it is the same bean as the two previous beans.

There are roughly 40,000 known bean genomes known to modern science today, and by combination (see below) that means there are over 10 trillion possible 3 bean salads.

$$_nC_k \equiv {40000 \choose 3} \equiv \frac{40000!}{3!(40000 - 3)!} = 1.066 * 10^{13}$$

This begs the question, why this particular 3 bean salad? This I cannot answer, since this bean salad is from the grocery store, and I wasn’t even the one who bought it. But what I can tell you is that this one was a little too vinegary for my tastes.