All words, with or without meaning, are made using all the letters of the word MONDAY. These words are written as in a dictionary with serial numbers. The serial number of the word MONDAY is :
Solution
<p>The letters of "MONDAY" arranged in alphabetical order are: A, D, M, N, O, Y.</p>
<ol>
<li>Fix A as the first letter, we can arrange the remaining 5 letters in 5! ways = 120 ways.</li>
<li>Fix D as the first letter, we can arrange the remaining 5 letters in 5! ways = 120 ways.</li>
</ol>
<p>So far, we have 120 (for A) + 120 (for D) = 240 words.</p>
<p>Now, let's proceed with words starting with M:</p>
<ol>
<li>Fix MA as the first two letters, we can arrange the remaining 4 letters in 4! ways = 24 ways.</li>
<li>Fix MD as the first two letters, we can arrange the remaining 4 letters in 4! ways = 24 ways.</li>
<li>Fix MN as the first two letters, we can arrange the remaining 4 letters in 4! ways = 24 ways.</li>
</ol>
<p>Now, we have 240 (for A and D) + 24 (for MA) + 24 (for MD) + 24 (for MN) = 312 words.</p>
<p>After MN, we consider words that start with MO:</p>
<ol>
<li>Fix MOA as the first three letters, we can arrange the remaining 3 letters in 3! ways = 6 ways.</li>
<li>Fix MOD as the first three letters, we can arrange the remaining 3 letters in 3! ways = 6 ways.</li>
</ol>
<p>Adding these to the total, we have 312 (previous total) + 6 (for MOA) + 6 (for MOD) = 324 words.</p>
<p>Next, we consider words that start with 'MON'. The word 'MONDAY' comes after 'MONAD' in dictionary order, so:</p>
<ol>
<li>Fix 'MONA' as the first four letters. The remaining 2 letters ('D' and 'Y') can be arranged in 2! ways, which gives us 2 more words: 'MONADY' and 'MONAYD'.</li>
</ol>
<p>So, we have 324 (previous total) + 2 (for 'MONADY' and 'MONAYD') = 326 words.</p>
<p>Finally, we have the word 'MONDAY' itself, which is the 327th word. </p>
About this question
Subject: Mathematics · Chapter: Permutations and Combinations · Topic: Fundamental Counting Principle
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