In: Statistics and Probability
4. The Hawaiian alphabet has twelve letters: five vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p, and w). For the purpose of this exercise we will define an n–letter “word” as an ordered collection of n of these twelve letters with repeats allowed. Obviously, most such “words” will be nonsense words.
a) How many possible four–letter Hawaiian “words” are there?
b) What is the probability a randomly selected four–letter “word” has no repeated letter?
c) What is the probability a randomly selected four–letter “word” contains three different consonants and one vowel?
d) What is the probability a randomly selected four–letter “word” starts with a consonant?
e) What is the probability a randomly selected four–letter “word” contains exactly one consonant?