The position of how many letters will remain unchanged if each of the letter in the word 'CATEGORY' is arranged in alphabetical order?

Question

Prepp Team · Accepted Answer

Understanding Letter Arrangement and Position

This question asks us to determine how many letters in the word 'CATEGORY' will stay in their original position when the letters are rearranged in alphabetical order. This is a common type of word arrangement problem found in reasoning or verbal ability tests.

Step-by-Step Solution to the Arrangement Problem

Let's break down the process to solve this letter arrangement question:

Step 1: Write down the original word and its letter positions.

The word is CATEGORY. It has 8 letters. We can list the letters and their positions:

Position 1: C
Position 2: A
Position 3: T
Position 4: E
Position 5: G
Position 6: O
Position 7: R
Position 8: Y

Step 2: Arrange the letters of the word alphabetically.

The letters in the word 'CATEGORY' are C, A, T, E, G, O, R, Y. Let's sort these letters alphabetically:

A
C
E
G
O
R
T
Y

Step 3: Compare the original positions with the new positions after alphabetical arrangement.

Now, we list the letters in their new positions after being arranged alphabetically:

New Position 1: A
New Position 2: C
New Position 3: E
New Position 4: G
New Position 5: O
New Position 6: R
New Position 7: T
New Position 8: Y

To easily see which letters remain unchanged in their position, we can create a comparison table:

Position	Original Letter	Alphabetically Arranged Letter	Position Unchanged?
1	C	A	No
2	A	C	No
3	T	E	No
4	E	G	No
5	G	O	No
6	O	R	No
7	R	T	No
8	Y	Y	Yes

Step 4: Count the number of positions where the letter remained unchanged.

Looking at the comparison table, we can see that the letter 'Y' at Position 8 is the same in both the original word and the alphabetically arranged word. This is the only position where the letter remained unchanged.

Therefore, only one letter's position remains unchanged.

Conclusion on Unchanged Letter Positions

After arranging the letters of the word 'CATEGORY' in alphabetical order, only the letter 'Y' stays in its original 8th position. All other letters move to new positions.

Thus, the number of letters whose position remains unchanged is one.

Revision Table: Key Concepts

Concept	Description
Letter Arrangement	Putting letters in a specific sequence, like alphabetical order.
Original Position	The initial place of a letter in the given word.
Alphabetical Order	Arranging letters from A to Z.
Position Unchanged	When a letter stays in the same numbered spot after rearrangement.

Additional Information on Word Reasoning Problems

Word rearrangement and position-based problems are common in various tests assessing verbal and logical reasoning. They often require careful step-by-step analysis.

Always read the question carefully to understand what kind of arrangement is required (e.g., alphabetical, reverse alphabetical, based on vowels/consonants).
Clearly list the original items and their positions.
Perform the required rearrangement accurately.
Compare the original and new lists position by position.
Count or identify what the question asks for (e.g., number of unchanged positions, letters that moved, specific letters at new positions).

Practicing with different words helps build speed and accuracy in solving these types of letter position arrangement problems.