The number of words, with or without meaning, that can be formed by taking 4 letters at a time from the letters of the word 'SYLLABUS' such that two letters are distinct and two letters are alike, is ____.
Answer: 240
Solution
In SYLLABUS the only repeated letters are S and L, each twice, while the distinct letters available are S, Y, L, A, B and U. A four-letter arrangement with one repeated pair and two different letters is built in three stages: choose the doubled letter from in ways; choose two distinct letters from the remaining five in ways; and arrange the four letters, two of them alike, in ways. The count is .
JEE Main · 2020 · 05 Sep 2020 · Shift 1 · Integer answer