Understanding Dictionary Order of Words

To arrange words in dictionary order, we compare them letter by letter from left to right. The word with the letter that comes first in the alphabet at the first point of difference is placed earlier.

Let's look at the given words and their corresponding numbers:

• 1. Flexible
• 2. Flower
• 3. Flooring
• 4. Flood
• 5. Floater

Step-by-Step Comparison for Dictionary Arrangement

We compare the words letter by letter:

• First Letter: All words start with 'F'. No difference yet.
• Second Letter: All words have 'L' as the second letter. No difference yet.
• Third Letter:
  • 1. Flexible
  • 2. Flowor
  • 3. Flooroing
  • 4. Floood
  • 5. Floatoer
  Comparing the third letters ('e' and 'o'), 'e' comes before 'o' in the alphabet. Therefore, "Flexible" (1) will come first in the dictionary order.

Now we arrange the remaining words (2, 3, 4, 5) which all start with "Flo". We compare their fourth letters:

• 2. Flower
• 3. Flooring
• 4. Flood
• 5. Floater

Comparing the fourth letters ('w', 'o', 'o', 'a'):

• 'a' comes first among 'w', 'o', 'o', 'a'. So, "Floater" (5) comes next after Flexible.
• Next are the words with 'o' as the fourth letter: "Flooring" (3) and "Flood" (4). We need to compare these two words further.
• The last word in this group will be the one with 'w' as the fourth letter: "Flower" (2).

Let's compare "Flooring" (3) and "Flood" (4) to break the tie at the fourth letter:

• 3. Flooring
• 4. Flood

Comparing the fifth letters ('r' and 'd'), 'd' comes before 'r' in the alphabet. Therefore, "Flood" (4) comes before "Flooring" (3).

Final Dictionary Order

Combining the results, the words arranged in dictionary order are:

1. Flexible (starting with 'Fle')
2. Floater (starting with 'Floa')
3. Flood (starting with 'Floo', fifth letter 'd')
4. Flooring (starting with 'Floo', fifth letter 'r')
5. Flower (starting with 'Flow')

The corresponding numbers for this order are 1, 5, 4, 3, 2.

Comparing with Given Options

Let's match our derived order (1, 5, 4, 3, 2) with the provided options:

The order 1, 5, 4, 3, 2 matches Option 2.

Revision Table: Word Order Analysis

Additional Information on Dictionary Sorting

Dictionary sorting, also known as lexicographical order, is a fundamental concept used for arranging words, strings, and even numbers. Here are some key points:

• Comparison starts from the first character of each item.
• If characters match, the comparison moves to the next pair of characters.
• This process continues until a difference is found. The item with the character that comes earlier in the defined alphabet or sequence is placed first.
• If one item runs out of characters while the other still has characters (e.g., "car" vs "carpet"), the shorter item is considered to come first if the common prefix is identical. For example, "car" comes before "carpet".
• Spaces and punctuation marks also have an order in some sorting systems, but for standard word lists, they are usually ignored or treated as coming before letters.

Understanding dictionary order is crucial for various tasks, including organizing data, searching for information, and solving verbal reasoning problems.