Question: The number of ways in which four letters of the word ‘MATHEMATICS’ can be arranged is given by [Kurukshetra CEE 1996; Pb. CET 1995]
Options:
A) 136
B) 192
C) 1680
D) 2454
  Show Answer
  Answer:
Correct Answer: D
Solution:
- Word ?MATHEMATICS? has 2M, 2T, 2A, H, E, I, C, S. Therefore 4 letters can be chosen in the following ways. Case I : 2 alike of one kind and 2 alike of second kind  $ i.e. $ , $ ^{3}C_2\Rightarrow  $ No. of words  $ {{=}^{3}}C_2\frac{4\ !}{2\ !\ 2\ !}=18 $  Case II : 2 alike of one kind and 2 different i.e., $ ^{3}C_1{{\times }^{7}}C_2\Rightarrow  $ No.of words  $ {{=}^{3}}C_1{{\times }^{7}}C_2\times \frac{4\ !}{2\ !}=756 $  Case III : All are different  $ i.e. $ , $ ^{8}C_4\Rightarrow  $ No. of words  $ {{=}^{8}}C_4\times 4\ !=1680 $ . Hence total number of words are 2454.