Dictionary Word Ordering Explained

This solution guides you through finding the correct alphabetical order for the given words as they would appear in an English dictionary. We'll break down the comparison process step-by-step.

List of Words for Ordering

Here are the words we need to arrange:

• 1. Rush
• 2. Roven
• 3. Rumpus
• 4. Royal
• 5. Rugged

Dictionary Ordering Logic

The core principle of dictionary ordering is alphabetical comparison, letter by letter, from the beginning of each word. If the first letters match, we move to the second, then the third, and so on, until a difference is found.

Step-by-Step Word Comparison

Let's compare the words:

Step 1: Compare the first letter.

All words begin with 'R'. So, we move to the next letter.

Step 2: Compare the second letter.

The second letters are:

• 'o' for Roven (2) and Royal (4)
• 'u' for Rush (1), Rumpus (3), and Rugged (5)

Since '$'o'$' comes before '$'u'$' in the English alphabet, the words starting with 'Ro' (Roven, Royal) will appear in the dictionary before the words starting with 'Ru' (Rush, Rumpus, Rugged).

Step 3: Order the 'Ro' words (Roven, Royal).

We need to compare Roven (2) and Royal (4):

• The first two letters are identical: 'Ro'.
• We compare the third letters: '$'v'$' in Roven and '$'y'$' in Royal.
• According to the alphabet, '$'v'$' comes before '$'y'$.
• Therefore, Roven (2) comes before Royal (4).

The correct order for this subgroup is: 2, 4

Step 4: Order the 'Ru' words (Rush, Rumpus, Rugged).

Now, let's compare Rush (1), Rumpus (3), and Rugged (5):

All three words start with 'Ru'. We must compare their third letters: 's', 'm', and 'g'.

The alphabetical order of these third letters is '$'g'$, '$'m'$, '$'s'$.

This means Rugged (with 'g') comes first, followed by Rumpus (with 'm'), and then Rush (with 's').

The correct order for this subgroup is: 5, 3, 1

Assembling the Final Dictionary Order

Finally, we combine the ordered 'Ro' group and the ordered 'Ru' group according to their alphabetical precedence ('Ro' before 'Ru'):

• Order of 'Ro' words: 2, 4
• Order of 'Ru' words: 5, 3, 1

Putting them together gives the complete dictionary order:

2, 4, 5, 3, 1

This sequence represents the words: Roven, Royal, Rugged, Rumpus, Rush.

Conclusion

By comparing the words letter by letter, we determined the correct dictionary order to be 2, 4, 5, 3, 1.