A password is 4 characters long, consisting of 2 letters and 2 numbers. The password must begin and end with a letter. If numbers can be repeated but letters cannot, how many possibilities are there?

The first and last positions must be letters, so the pattern is letter-number-number-letter. Choose two different letters in order in 26 × 25 ways, since letters cannot repeat. Each number position has 10 choices, and numbers may repeat, giving 10 × 10 ways. The total is 26 × 25 × 10 × 10 = 65,000, which is choice A, 65,000.

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.