How many permutations are in the word smart?

Answer 1

Answer: there are five distinct letters in the word 'smart'. However we may rearrange them, every rearrangement will consist of all and only those five elements. The case here is just the same as if we were wanting to determine how many different ways we could seat 5 people in a five-seat row of chairs. In the first chair we could seat any one of the five--and just for fun we'll imagine this is a group of five of my former girlfriends [S]usan, [M]olly, [A]shlee, [R]ebecca, and (yes, it's a stretch) Kasey [T.]. So any one of the five chicks can take the first seat, which is to say there are five possible outcomes for seat number one. Now regardless of who the first girl is, once she sits down there are four girls left, any any one of whom can sit down next to her in seat number 2. Suppose Ashlee takes the first seat. Then there are four possibilities for who sits next to her: Susan, Molly, Rebbecca, or Kasey T. But any one of those girls could just as easily have taken have taken