How many pairs of letters are there in the word ‘PRESENCE’, each of which have as many letters between them as they have in English alphabetical series (both forward and backward direction)?

The correct answer is Three.

Let us write out the word PRESENCE with the position of each letter clearly marked:

P   R   E   S   E   N   C   E
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8

The rule is: A pair of letters qualifies if the number of letters sitting between them in the word equals the number of letters sitting between those same two letters in the English alphabet — counting either in the forward or the backward direction.

First, let us note the positions of all letters in the English alphabet that appear in PRESENCE:

C = 3,   E = 5,   N = 14,   P = 16,   R = 18,   S = 19

Now let us go through every qualifying pair one by one:

Pair 1 — P (position 1) and S (position 4)

Letters between them in the word: R, E → 2 letters
Alphabet positions: P = 16, S = 19
Letters between P and S in the alphabet (forward): Q, R → 2 letters
2 = 2 ✔   This pair qualifies!

Pair 2 — R (position 2) and N (position 6)

Letters between them in the word: E, S, E → 3 letters
Alphabet positions: R = 18, N = 14
Letters between R and N in the alphabet (backward direction): Q, P, O → 3 letters
3 = 3 ✔   This pair qualifies!

Pair 3 — E (position 5) and C (position 7)

Letters between them in the word: N → 1 letter
Alphabet positions: E = 5, C = 3
Letters between E and C in the alphabet (backward direction): D → 1 letter
1 = 1 ✔   This pair qualifies!

All other pairs were checked and do not satisfy the condition in either direction.

Summary of qualifying pairs:

  1. P – S: 2 letters between in word (R, E) = 2 letters between in alphabet (Q, R) [forward]
  2. R – N: 3 letters between in word (E, S, E) = 3 letters between in alphabet (Q, P, O) [backward]
  3. E – C: 1 letter between in word (N) = 1 letter between in alphabet (D) [backward]

Therefore, there are exactly Three such pairs in the word PRESENCE.