Too many S's!

Find the total number of ways in which the letters of the word 'MISSISSIPPI' can be arranged, so that any two S's do not come together.


The answer is 7350.

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1 solution

Zee Ell
Mar 6, 2017

The number of ways we can arrange the 7 letters in the word "MISSISSIPPI", which are not "S" (1 "M", 4 "I"s and 2 "P"s):

7 ! 4 ! 2 ! = 105 \frac {7!}{4!2!} = 105

Now, we can put the each of 4 letter "S"s one by one in 8 places: after one of the other 7 letters or in the front. The number of ways this can be done is:

( 8 4 ) = 70 { 8 \choose 4 } = 70

Hence, our answer should be:

105 × 70 = 7350 105 × 70 = \boxed {7350}

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