How many words, no matter if they are meaningless, can be formed by the letters of the word 'DIARY'?
- AOption (a)
24
- BOption (b)
5
- COption (c)
10
- DOption (d)
More than one of the above
- EOption (e)
None of the above
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Correct answer
None of the above
Why this answer is correct
The correct answer is None of the above.
Key Points
Total number of letters = 5
Number of repeating letters = 0
The total number of words that can be formed are = 5P5
= 5!
= 120
∴The total number of words that can be formed is 120.
Alternate Method
- There are 5 different letters in the word DIARY.
- The first place can be filled in 5 ways.
- The second place can be filled by any one of the remaining 4 letters. So, second place can be filled in 4 ways.
- So, on continuing, the number of ways of filling third place in 3 ways, fourth place in 2 ways, fifth place in 1 way.
- Therefore, the number of words that can be formed using all the letters of the word DIARY, using each letter exactly once is 5×4×3×2×1 = 5! = 120