1. An infant typed three strokes on a keyboard. If all the characters typed were letters of the alphabet , wha

There are 24 possibilities to have 3 consecutive letters.

The total possible ways of typing any 3 letters is 26^3.

Answer: 24/26^3 = 24/17576 = 3/2197 = .001365498407

Since you didn't clarify that the strokes were on different keys, the number of possibilities is 26^3 or 17,576 possibilities. Of those, only 24 would be three keys in consecutive alphabetical order (ABC, BCD, CDE, etc.) So the probability is 24 in 17576 or about 1 in 732.33.

Wow!

For three to be in alpha order, the first must be 1 of the first 24 of the alphabet. So,

P = (24/26) * (1/26) * (1/26)

The always reliable Mathgirl worked out the calculation for you, and did Beldin.

well first of all everybody has a point but u must take in to consideration the fact that not only were the letters choosen out of the 26 but the order matters

example were the letter ABC typed in or CBA..

nayways this would be 26C3 * 3! which is 15600...not 26^3...that is juss not right...

One in a million.

There are many different combonations of of 26 letters, especially if teh keys could repeat or even be scattered.

Factorial!

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