Question 19 Choice: Answer: Time:2:11 In how many ways can the letters in MATTERS be arranged if no two identical letters can be adjacent? A. 2508 B. 2514 c. 2520 D. 5028 E. 5040 (8) Ordinarily, if these were seven different letters, you would determine the total number of arrangements based on 7!. Because there is a redundant letter T, you must divide 7! by 21 (or 2 x 1 = 2), which equals 2520. By doing this, you have ‘liminated the duplicate presentations that include identical T letters. However, because the identical Tletters cannot be adjacent, ‘you must subtract the six ways that they could be presented (for example, slots 1 and 2, 2 and 3, 3 and 4, 4 and 5, 5 and 6, 6 and 7) to arrive at a final answer of 2514, Therefore, choice (B) is the correct answer. Note: Do not subtract 12 because you do not reverse the letters in their potential adjacent slots. The earlier step of dividing by 21 already eliminated those redundant pairings.