How many words can we make?
Posted on: October 12, 2008 - 2:59am
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How many words can we make?
...Using the roman 'A B C...' alphabet, how many possible letter combinations are there? Is there a simple mathematical formula for figuring this out?
Quote:
"Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full."
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
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For a word of n letters then there are 26n possible words that could be formed. If one of these letters must be a vowel, then there are 5x26n-1 possible words that could be formed.
"Physical reality” isn’t some arbitrary demarcation. It is defined in terms of what we can systematically investigate, directly or not, by means of our senses. It is preposterous to assert that the process of systematic scientific reasoning arbitrarily excludes “non-physical explanations” because the very notion of “non-physical explanation” is contradictory.
-Me
Books about atheism
Depends on what the rules are for a 'word'. If letters can be reapeated and there is no limit on length, there would be infinite combinations. If you restrict word length and repeating of letters in a word, you'd need to define the rules for a legal 'word' to get an answer.
Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success. --Mark Skousen
Geezz DG , you could better explain the n , for us math dummies please .... 26 times all possible combos is ? .... Is that what you are saying? Shit, where's my calculator?!!! Umm, as if it much matters.
OGD , DGO, DOG, GDO, ODG, GOD
What is the total n of 3 ..... 26 is?
http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=n&btnG=Google+Search
Atheism Books.
n is the number of letters. This was already indicated.
This is basic combinatorial mathematics. What Kevin is asking for is the number of distinct letters that could be formed. Assuming there are no restrictions, this is neither a combination or a permutation. It's actually much simpler. If thhere are n slots, and no restrictions, then there are 26 possibilities for each slot. Therefore, for n letters, we have 26n possibilities, or 26 multiplied by itself n times.
If, on the other hand, one of them must be a vowel, we have placed a restriction one slot. So we have n-1 slots with only the initial restriction. Since there are only 5 possible entries into one slot, we have:
5x26n-1
Other restrictions can adjust the expression accordingly. For example, if we require that no letters can be repeated in the word, then we have a permutation set. For n letters we find:
P=26!/(26-n)!
If n>26, then there are 0 permutations.
"Physical reality” isn’t some arbitrary demarcation. It is defined in terms of what we can systematically investigate, directly or not, by means of our senses. It is preposterous to assert that the process of systematic scientific reasoning arbitrarily excludes “non-physical explanations” because the very notion of “non-physical explanation” is contradictory.
-Me
Books about atheism
I dig ya DG, you are a fun scientist .... how do we add slang and vowels into the equation? ... svn to the power of n/s ?
Just kidding, trying to imitate a comic physitist ..... A god equation , SUM ONE , themodynamics ..... I love what science has has taught dumb me .... yup , I am god as you , as all is one. 
Feels good .... thanks ....
Atheism Books.
I've already indicated how vowels should be added. For a word of n letters of which k must be vowels, then:
Possibilities=5k26n-k
"Physical reality” isn’t some arbitrary demarcation. It is defined in terms of what we can systematically investigate, directly or not, by means of our senses. It is preposterous to assert that the process of systematic scientific reasoning arbitrarily excludes “non-physical explanations” because the very notion of “non-physical explanation” is contradictory.
-Me
Books about atheism
There are 2 distinct questions in your post.
DG precisely answered the 2nd question in reference to the English alphabet.
BTW Out of curiosity I had to google for the longest (English) word with one vowel: strengths.
From a very interesting web site with more word oddities - http://www.rinkworks.com/words/oddities.shtml
The answer to the 1st question cannot be precisely calculated and is only limited to human imagination which seems to be quite extensive.
People who think there is something they refer to as god don't ask enough questions.
About 3 fiddy.
LOL...watch out for the Loch Ness Monster!
Do you mean English words? Or words in all languages that use forms of the Latinized alphabet? Also, do you mean actual words or "possible" words? Because if it's the latter, things will get real tricky real fast.
The Oxford English Dictionary lists roughly 175,000 words that are currently in use, another 50,000 or so that are considered obsolete, and an additional 10,000 or so that are derivative subentires. According to oxford [dot] com, these entires don't take into account identical groups of phonemes that have different meanings when used as different parts of speech ("scream" as both a noun and a verb, for example, is counted as one word).
Beyond that, it's impossible to take into account the fast and ever-changing reality of colloquialisms. For each English-speaking country, you're going to have thousands upon thousands of these at any given time--new ones arising each day. Oxford estimates that all OED entries plus all current and former colloquialisms from all English speaking countries equals nearly 750,000 English words that you may encounter at any given time.
Note that this estimate also doesn't take into account articles and some technical language--the latter of which is probably faster-changing than colloquialism.
But no, to answer one of your questions, there is no mathematical formula that can be used to figure this out. The lexicogrammar of any given language is always in a state of change, and this change is driven by the function of language. When a new word is needed, one appears; when one is no longer needed, it disappears.
BigUniverse wrote,
"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."