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How Many 4-letter Words can be Formed Using the Alphabets of the Word GMAT Problem Solving

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Sayantani Barman

Experta en el extranjero | Updated On - Jan 5, 2023

Question: How many 4-letter words can be formed using the alphabets of the word ENGLISH, if it is given that the 4-letter word contains alphabets G and L and repetition of alphabets are not allowed?

  1. 60
  2. 120
  3. 180
  4. 200
  5. 240

Answer: E
Solution and Explanation:

Approach Solution 1:
Given that 4 letter words should contain the alphabets G and L and repetition is not allowed. We have to count how many words can be formed.
Here, we have 7 letters ( E, N,G, L, I, S & H )
in 4 locations as follows:
G and L must be present in order to arrange the first two letters in two different ways, giving us 120 possible arrangements for the remaining five letters (E, N, I, S, and H).
Therefore, there are 240 ways in total (120 * 2)
E is the correct answer.

Approach Solution 2:
First task: Choose two letters from the groups G and L. (Since these two must be included, obviously)
Choose two letters from the list: E, N, I, S, and H.

Task 3: Create 4-letter words using the four letters you chose for the first two challenges.
The first task is to choose two letters from the groups G and L.
Now, there are 2C2 = 1 methods to choose 2 letters from 2 different letters.
Thus, there is only one way to complete Task 1.

Task 2 asks you to choose two letters from the set of five letters (EN, I, S, H).
There are 5C2 = 10 methods to choose 2 letters from a pool of 5 different letters.
Thus, there are 10 different ways to complete Task 2.

Task 3 asks you to arrange the four letters you've chosen in four spaces to create various words.
The number of possible arrangements for 4 letters in 4 spaces is 4! = 4 X 3 X 2 X 1.
Thus, there are 24 different methods to complete Task 3.

Step 4: Determine the final response.
We will enter the following values into the aforementioned equation in this step:
There are 240 different 3-letter words, or 1 x 10 x 24.
As a result, 240 words can be produced within the circumstances mentioned in the question.
E is the correct choice.

Approach Solution 3:

Stage 1: Choose two letters from the list E, N, I, S, or H.
We can utilise combinations because it doesn't matter what order we choose the two letters in (yet!).
There are 5C2 methods to choose 2 letters, 5 letters (10 ways)
Therefore, there are 10 ways we can finish stage 1.
Aside: Below is a video on how to mentally calculate combinations (like 5C2) if you're interested.

Stage 2: Combine the letters G and L with the two that you selected in stage 1, then arrange those four letters.
We have n ways to arrange the things.
As a result, there are 24 possible arrangements for the four letters.
We have 24 ways to complete stage 2.
By using the Fundamental Counting Principle (FCP), there are 240 possible methods to finish the two steps and produce four-letter words.
E is the correct choice.

“How many 4-letter words can be formed using the alphabets of the word" - is a topic of the GMAT Quantitative reasoning section of GMAT. This question has been borrowed from the book “GMAT Official Guide Quantitative Review”.

To understand GMAT Problem Solving questions, Candidates must have basic qualitative abilities. Quant evaluates a candidate's aptitude for both mathematics and logic. The problem-solving section of the GMAT Quantitative test consists of a question and a list of potential answers. The candidate must choose the right answer by applying maths to the question. The problem-solving section of the GMAT Quant topic is made up of very complicated maths problems that must be solved by using the right maths facts.

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*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

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