Question

The number of ways of selecting 4 letters out of the letters of the word MINIMAL is

Answer 1

Given: The word MINIMAL.

To find: The number of ways of selecting 4 letters out of the letters of the word MINIMAL?

Solution:

• Now the word given is MINIMAL.

• MINIMAL has 7 letters.

• I and M occurs twice.

• So there are: N, A, L, (MM), (II) 5 distinct letters.

• The combination would be:

                    4 letters selected, which are all distinct: 5C4

                    2 letters alike, and 2 distinct = 2C1 x 4C2

                    2 letters alike, and 2 letters alike = 2C2

• So sum up together, we get:

                    5C4  +  (2C1 x 4C2)  + 2C2

                    5 + (2 x 4) + 1

                    5 + 8 + 1

                    14

Answer:

            So the number of ways of selecting 4 letters out of the letters of the word MINIMAL is 14.