[$] How many ways are there to configure the Linux kernel?

There are a large number of ways to configure the 6.16
Linux kernel. It has 32,468 different configuration options on x86_64,
and a comparable number for other platforms. Exploring the ways the kernel can
be configured is sufficiently difficult that it requires specialized tools.
These show the

number of possible configurations that options can be combined in has
6,550 digits. How has that number changed over the history of the kernel, and
what does it mean for testing?