Four students choose to apply for running, high jump and long jump, one for each. How many ways are there to apply? Why 81?

Four students choose to apply for running, high jump and long jump, one for each. How many ways are there to apply? Why 81?

Each of the four students can apply for any one of the three items, because they didn't say they couldn't repeat it
According to the principle of multiplication, there are four steps to complete the task, each of which has three choices
It's all in common
3 × 3 × 3 = 81 species