How many such pairs of letters are there in the word ‘ASPIRING, each of which has as many letters between them in the word as they have in the English alphabet (both in forward and backward directions)?

The correct option is Three.

To find the pairs of letters in the word ASPIRING that have as many letters between them in the word as in the English alphabetical series (checking in both forward and backward directions), let us analyze the letters along with their corresponding positions in the English alphabet.

Let us write down the alphabetical positions of each letter in the word ASPIRING:

A = 1
S = 19
P = 16
I = 9
R = 18
I = 9
N = 14
G = 7

Now, let us count forward and backward for each letter to identify matching pairs:

1. Forward Direction:

• Starting from A (1):
Counting forward: 1, 2 (S), 3 (P), 4 (I), 5 (R), 6 (I), 7 (N), 8 (G). None match.

• Starting from S (19):
Counting forward: 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. None match.

• Starting from P (16):
Counting forward: 16, 17, 18 (R - matches! Position of R is 18).
So, (P, R) forms the 1st pair because between P (16) and R (18) in the alphabet there is 1 letter (Q), and in the word ASPIRING there is 1 letter (I) between P and R.

• Starting from I (9) (first 'I'):
Counting forward: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. None match.

• Starting from R (18):
Counting forward: 18, 19, 20, 21. None match.

• Starting from I (9) (second 'I'):
Counting forward: 9, 10, 11. None match.

• Starting from N (14):
Counting forward: 14, 15. None match.

2. Backward Direction:

• Starting from G (7):
Counting backward from right to left:
7, 8 (N), 9 (I - matches! Position of second I is 9).
So, (G, I) forms the 2nd pair because between G (7) and I (9) there is 1 letter (H), and in the word there is 1 letter (N) between G and I.
Continuing from 7: 7, 8 (N), 9 (I), 10 (R), 11 (I), 12 (P), 13 (S), 14 (A). No other matches from G.

• Starting from N (14):
Counting backward from right to left:
14, 15 (I), 16 (R), 17 (I), 18 (P), 19 (S - matches! Position of S is 19).
So, (N, S) forms the 3rd pair because between N (14) and S (19) there are 4 letters (O, P, Q, R) in the alphabet, and in the word there are 4 letters (I, R, I, P) between N and S.
Continuing from 14: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 (S), 20 (A). No other matches from N.

• Starting from I (9) (second 'I'):
Counting backward: 9, 10 (R), 11 (I), 12 (P), 13 (S), 14 (A). None match.

• Starting from R (18):
Counting backward: 18, 19 (I), 20 (P), 21 (S), 22 (A). None match.

• Starting from I (9) (first 'I'):
Counting backward: 9, 10 (P), 11 (S), 12 (A). None match.

• Starting from P (16):
Counting backward: 16, 17 (S), 18 (A). None match.

• Starting from S (19):
Counting backward: 19, 20 (A). None match.

Therefore, we have a total of 3 such pairs: (P, R), (G, I), and (N, S).