Research indicates that the order letters appear in a word does not affect a person's ability to read the word. The important aspect is that the first and last letters in a word be in the right place. This is because the human mind does not read every letter by itself, but the word as a whole. How many ways could you arrange the letters in the word QUESTION and still have it be readable?

Use the given information to answer each question in the flowchart. Record your responses.

Flowchart Questions
Response
Explanation
Does order matter?
Yes
When a letter is placed in the arrangement, it cannot be used again.
Are you using all the objects in the group?
Yes
All the letters are being arranged.
Are some of the objects identical?
No
Each letter is distinct.
Are there conditions?
Yes
AND condition: Placement of Q and N is specified.

Based on your responses in the chart above, you know to use n P r and multiplication.

There are 720 ways the letters can be arranged. Try a few to see if a friend will recognize the word: qtiouesn, qeistuon, ?!

 

Read page 89 Example 4(a) in your textbook, Principles of Mathematics 12 .