"vicechancellor" The vowels i,e,a,e,o can be arrangedways. We divide by 2! because of the 2 indistinguishable e's For each of those ways of selecting the arrangement of the vowels, it is the same as selecting the number of ways of arranging the letters of "vcchncllrX" where X stands for the arrangement of the vowels which must be together: That is . We divide by 3! because of the 3 indistinguishable c's and we divide also by 2! because of the 2 indistinguishable l's. So the desired number is Therefore the answer is 18,144,000. Edwin