Question:
In how many ways can the letters of the expression $x^{2} y^{2} z^{4}$ be arranged when written without using exponents?
Solution:
To find: number of ways the letters can be arranged
The following table shows the possible arrangements
However, we see that case $1=x^{2} y^{2} z^{4}$ is the same as case $4=y^{2} x^{2} z^{4}$
Similarly (case2, case 5), (case 3, case 6) are the same
So there are only 3 distinct cases
Hence the letters can be arranged in 3 distinct ways