(a) The total number of ways to arrange the letters in RESERVED is \(\frac{8!}{3!2!} = 3360\) because there are 3 Es and 2 Rs.

To have V as the first letter and E as the last letter, we arrange the remaining 6 letters: R, E, S, E, R, D. The number of ways to arrange these is \(\frac{6!}{2!2!} = 180\).

The probability is \(\frac{180}{3360} = \frac{3}{56}\) or 0.0536.

(b) Consider Rs together and Es together as single units: [RR] and [EEE]. This leaves us with the units [RR], [EEE], S, V, D to arrange, which is 5! ways.

The number of ways to arrange the Es together is \(\frac{6!}{2!} = 360\).

The probability is \(\frac{5!}{\frac{6!}{2!}} = \frac{120}{360} = \frac{1}{3}\).