How many different words can be formed using the letters of the word EDUCATION such that the word always begins with the letter ‘A’ and ends with a consonant?

EDUCATION has 9 distinct letters: 4 consonants (D,C,T,N) and 5 vowels (E,U,A,I,O). First position is fixed as 'A' (1 choice). Last position must be a consonant (4 choices). Remaining 7 positions can be filled by remaining 7 letters in 7! ways. Total = 1×4×7! = 4×5040 = 20160. Option A (22140) incorrectly uses 8! instead of 7!, while option C (22160) is a miscalculation.