Janet Anderson, age 17, of Butte, Mont., for her question:

WHICH LETTER IS THE MOST FREQUENTLY USED IN WRITING?

"E" is the most frequently used letter in newspapers, books and other printed material in English. It is the fifth letter in our alphabet.

Winning second place honors is the 20th letter of the alphabet, the letter T, with the first letter, the A, coming in third as the letter most frequently used in printed material in English.

Here, listed in order of ranking from four to 10, are the next letters most often used in print: O, N, R, I, S, H and D.

And what letters are least frequently found on printed pages? Heading that list, in 26th place, is the last letter of the English alphabet: Z. In 25th place is the letter Q while the letter J ranks as number 24.

The letter E was also the fifth letter of the ancient alphabet used by the Semites, who once lived in Syria and Palestine. They adapted the letter from an Egyptian picture symbol of a man rejoicing. The ancient Greeks gave the symbol the sound of E as in the word "bed." They called the letter "epsilon." The Romans gave the capital E its present form.