Nebraska, the home of the AMC, changed its license plate scheme. Each old license plate consisted of a letter followed by four digits. Each new license plate consists of three letters followed by three digits. If $a$ is the number of possible license plates in the old scheme and $b$ is the number of possible license plates in the new scheme, what is the value of $b/a$? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth.
The number of old license plates possible in the old system.......assuming digit repeats, is given by
26 x 10000 = 260,000
The number of license plates possible in the new system......assuming letter and digit repeats... is given by
(26)^3 * 1000 = 17,576, 000
So
260,000 / 17,576,000 = 0.0148 {rounding this to the nearest tenth = 0 !!! }
The number of old license plates possible in the old system.......assuming digit repeats, is given by
26 x 10000 = 260,000
The number of license plates possible in the new system......assuming letter and digit repeats... is given by
(26)^3 * 1000 = 17,576, 000
So
260,000 / 17,576,000 = 0.0148 {rounding this to the nearest tenth = 0 !!! }
Me, neither....unless we're assuming that letters and/or digits can't be repeated......do you know if that's the assumption ???