Final answer:
The question is a high school level mathematics problem that requires calculating the number of possible four-letter strings with one consonant and three vowels in a parallel universe with a different set of vowels and consonants. The total number of such strings is calculated using the fundamental counting principle, resulting in 441,000 possible combinations, which does not match any of the provided choices.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject of this question is Mathematics, and it deals with the topic of permutations and combinations. Specifically, it involves calculating the number of strings that can be formed given a set of constraints. In this parallel universe with 5 consonants and 21 vowels, we are asked to find out how many strings of four lowercase letters can be formed with only one consonant placed anywhere.
First, we calculate the number of ways to choose the position of the consonant. Since the string is four characters long, there are 4 possible positions for the consonant. For each of these positions, there are 5 possible consonants that can be selected. Then, for the remaining three positions, we can choose any of the 21 vowels. So, each of those positions has 21 options. We use the fundamental counting principle to combine these choices.
The calculation is as follows:
- Number of ways to choose the position of the consonant: 4
- Number of possible consonants: 5
- Number of ways to choose each vowel: 21
- Number of vowels needed: 3 (since the string total length is 4 and only one character is a consonant)
The total number of strings is given by the product of these numbers: 4 (positions) x 5 (consonants) x 21 (first vowel) x 21 (second vowel) x 21 (third vowel) = 4 x 5 x 21 x 21 x 21 = 4 x 5 x 213 = 4 x 5 x 9,261 = 441,000. However, none of the options given (a) 21,000 (b) 25,200 (c) 84,000 (d) 105,000 match this calculation, implying there might be a mistake in the question or the options provided.