nahid078 wrote:How many different strings of letters can be made by reordering of the word SUCCESS?
When we want to arrange a group of items in which some of the items are identical, we can use something called the MISSISSIPPI rule. It goes like this:
If there are n objects where A of them are alike, another B of them are alike, another C of them are alike, and so on, then the total number of possible arrangements = n!/[(A!)(B!)(C!)....]
So, for example, we can calculate the number of arrangements of the letters in MISSISSIPPI as follows:
There are
11 letters in total
There are
4 identical I's
There are
4 identical S's
There are
2 identical P's
So, the total number of possible arrangements =
11!/[(
4!)(
4!)(
2!)]
------------------
In SUCCESS:
There are
7 letters in total
There are
2 identical C's
There are
3 identical S's
So, the total number of possible arrangements =
7!/[(
2!)(
3!)]
=
420
Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
