how many different combinations of maternal and paternal chromosomes are possible for the gametes?
Maternal and paternal chromosomes are randomly distributed on either side of the metaphase plate. So for each pair there's a 50/50 chance as to which side the homologs will go on (8.17). We have 23 pairs each with 50/50 probabilities. That works out to 223 possible combinations of gametes from one human individual.