s,f,s,m,z,s,f,a,i,n If the 3 s's and 2 f's looked different, maybe colored differently, like this: s,f,s,m,z,s,f,a,i,n then the number of distinguishable "words" would be 10!. However there are many arrangements that we cannot tell apart because the 3 s's and 2 f's look just alike. So we must divide the 10! by the product of the factorials of the numbers of indistinguishable letters. Since there are 3 indistinguishable s's and 2 indistinguishable f's, we divide the 10! by 3!2!: Answer:Edwin