A plate can fit up to 6 letters on it. If I could use any letter of the alphabet, or a space, in any position, how many different combinations could be formed?

Question

the answer is 387 420 489

Answer 1

Think of 6 spaces.  In the first place, you have 27 choices of what to put. (alphabet + space)

 

In the 2nd place, you have 27 choices.

 

3rd place - the same

 

All of them - the same,

 

Then you multiply the possibilities in each space to get the number of possibilities.

 

27 x 27 x 27 x 27 x 27 x 27 = ?