I have an essay assignment due next week. To improve the vocab in my essay, I borrowed a dictionary from my Math classmate Ashish.
The thing is, Ashish tricked me! Instead of a regular English dictionary, he lent me a very, very weird dictionary . This dictionary has only one word in each page, printed in huge fonts. Besides that, this dictionary only contains all possible 9-letter words formed from the alphabets:
BRILLIANT
I wanted to throw this dictionary into the dustbin, but I suddenly thought of something. "BRILLIANT" spelled backwards is "TNAILLIRB", and I'd like to know what that means.
However, I cannot find that word at all. The dictionary arranges the words in alphabetical order, but there is no index or list of contents to help me find the word.
Therefore, I need your help! The first word, "ABIILLNRT", is in page one, so which page contains the word "TNAILLIRB"?
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5th letter. Shouldn't it be R first? You missed out one set of words there, but you added 1 2 into your total number of words
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Oh yeah thanks! I have edited it accordingly.
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@Hung Woei Neoh – Where??? Which letter
@Hung Woei Neoh – Ohok I got you it is 2 ! 4 ! = 1 2 XD
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@Ashish Menon – Ya, I made a mistake too. Nice and neat +1
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@Hung Woei Neoh – Thanks! Yours is nice and neat too.
Now, before the community gives me the page number, I shall try to count the pages myself first.
Before we begin counting, let's list out all the words before "TNAILLIRB".
First, the dictionary begins with words that start with A.
After that, we go through words that start with B, I, L, N and R before reaching T.
Then, the word starts with TN, so we go through words beginning with TA, TB, TI and TL.
The 3rd letter is A, which comes first.
The 4th letter is I, so we go through words beginning with TNAB.
The 5th letter is L, so we go through words beginning with TNAIB, TNAII
The 6th letter is L, so we go through words beginning with TNAILB, TNAILI
The 7th letter is I, so we go through words beginning with TNAILLB
After that, we are left with TNAILLIBR and TNAILLIRB, which are 2 additional words.
Therefore, we want to find the sum of all these words.
Now, to count all the words here:
Words that start with A (there are 2 I and 2 L) = 2 ! × 2 ! 8 ! = 1 0 0 8 0
Words that start with B (there are 2 I and 2 L) = 2 ! × 2 ! 8 ! = 1 0 0 8 0
Words that start with I (there are 2 L) = 2 ! 8 ! = 2 0 1 6 0
Words that start with L (there are 2 I) = 2 ! 8 ! = 2 0 1 6 0
Words that start with N (there are 2 I and 2 L) = 2 ! × 2 ! 8 ! = 1 0 0 8 0
Words that start with R (there are 2 I and 2 L) = 2 ! × 2 ! 8 ! = 1 0 0 8 0
Words that start with TA (there are 2 I and 2 L) = 2 ! × 2 ! 7 ! = 1 2 6 0
Words that start with TB (there are 2 I and 2 L) = 2 ! × 2 ! 7 ! = 1 2 6 0
Words that start with TI (there are 2 L) = 2 ! 7 ! = 2 5 2 0
Words that start with TL (there are 2 I) = 2 ! 7 ! = 2 5 2 0
Words that start with TNAB (there are 2 I and 2 L) = 2 ! × 2 ! 5 ! = 3 0
Words that start with TNAIB (there are 2 L) = 2 ! 4 ! = 1 2
Words that start with TNAII (there are 2 L) = 2 ! 4 ! = 1 2
Words that start with TNAILB = 3 ! = 6
Words that start with TNAILI = 3 ! = 6
Words that start with TNAILLB = 2 ! = 2
TNAILLIBR - 1 word
TNAILLIRB - 1 word
The page number = Total number of words
= 1 0 0 8 0 + 1 0 0 8 0 + 2 0 1 6 0 + 2 0 1 6 0 + 1 0 0 8 0 + 1 0 0 8 0 + 1 2 6 0 + 1 2 6 0 + 2 5 2 0 + 2 5 2 0 + 3 0 + 1 2 + 1 2 + 6 + 6 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 8 8 2 7 0
Alternatively, you can begin counting from the last page. I'll let someone else write out that solution.
Phew this question took time to solve. Nice nice :+1::+1:
Nice since you have found the page, what does it mean? XD
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It's your dictionary. Didn't you check it out already?
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But I have given it to you...
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@Ashish Menon – Nope. I only borrowed it. You can find out yourself when I return the dictionary to you next week.
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@Hung Woei Neoh – Sure... XD
@Hung Woei Neoh – It has been a week you have not returned it as yet. Are you not done with it as yet?
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@Ashish Menon – Didn't I return it yesterday?
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@Hung Woei Neoh – Nope, you gave me another dictionary. It was not mine.
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Looking backwards.
Lets arrange letters of BRILLIANT is descending alphabetical order. It is TRNLLIIBA.
First letter
First lets see words starting with T. Its is the same as in T NAILLIRB. So, we proceed to the next letter.
Second letter
First in reverse alphabetical order comes R, but we need N. So, there would be 2 ! × 2 ! 7 ! = 1 2 6 0 such words. Then comes N which is what we want(T N AILLIRB). So, lets proceed to the next letter.
Third letter
First comes R but we need A, so there are 2 ! × 2 ! 6 ! = 1 8 0 such words. Next comes L but we need A, so there are 2 ! 6 ! = 3 6 0 such words. Next comes I but we need A, so there are 2 ! 6 ! = 3 6 0 such words. Next comes B but we need A, so there are 2 ! × 2 ! 6 ! = 1 8 0 such words. Next comes A which we need (TN A ILLIRB). So, we proceed to the next letter.
Fourth letter
First comes R but we need I, so there are 2 ! × 2 ! 5 ! = 3 0 such words. Next comes L but we need I, so there are 2 ! 5 ! = 6 0 such words. Next comes I which we want (TNA I LLIRB). So, we proceed to the next letter.
Fifth letter
First comes R but we need L, so there are 2 ! 4 ! = 1 2 such words. Next comes L which we want (TNAI L LIRB). So, we proceed to the next letter.
Sixth letter
First comes R but we need L, so there are 3 ! = 6 such words. Next comes L which we want (TNAIL L IRB). So, we proceed to the next letter.
Seventh letter
First comes R but we need I, so there are 2 ! = 2 such words. Next comes I which we want (TNAILL I RB). So, we proceed to the next letter.
Eight letter
First comes R which we want (TNAILLI R B). So, we proceed to the next letter.
Ninth letter
First comes B which we want (TNAILLIR B ).
So, the word is the 1 2 6 0 + 1 8 0 + 3 6 0 + 3 6 0 + 1 8 0 + 3 0 + 6 0 + 1 2 + 6 + 2 = 2 4 5 0 th letter from the back of the dictionary.
Now, the total number of pages in the dictionary would be the total number of letter that can be formed from BRILLIANT, which is 2 ! × 2 ! 9 ! = 9 0 7 2 0 .
So, the page in which TNAILLIRB would be present = 9 0 7 2 0 − 2 4 5 0 = 8 8 2 7 0 .
Q.E.D