How many four letter words are possible using the first

Shea Stuart

Shea Stuart

Answered question

2022-06-30

How many four letter words are possible using the first 5 letters of the alphabet if letters can not be repeated?

Answer & Explanation

Alexzander Bowman

Alexzander Bowman

Beginner2022-07-01Added 19 answers

Answer: If 'word' means any 4 letters in a given order, then it is 120.
Explanation:
Using the permutation function, we can see how many way there are to pick 4 things in a specific order out of 5 things. I'm not going to derive the formula here, but: n P r = n ! ( n - r ) !
ScommaMaruj

ScommaMaruj

Beginner2022-07-02Added 5 answers

Step 1
You can work out the number of possible 'words' by considering the number of choices available for each letter.
There are 5 choices for the first letter: a, e, i, o, u
Number of options = 5
Once the first letter is chosen, there will be 4 letters to choose.
Number of options = 5 × 4 = 20
Step 2
Once the second letter is chosen, there will be 3 letter to choose.
Number of options = 5 × 4 × 3 = 60
Once 3 letters are chosen there are 2 letters to choose from:
Number of options = 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 = 120

Do you have a similar question?

Recalculate according to your conditions!

New Questions in High school probability

Ask your question.
Get an expert answer.

Let our experts help you. Answer in as fast as 15 minutes.

Didn't find what you were looking for?