SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 9 of 98

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 10 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Select the set in which the numbers are related in the same way as are the numbers of the following set. (79, 58, 62) (54, 33, 37) (NOTE: Operations should be performed on the whole numbers, without breaking down the numbers into its constituent digits. E.g. 13 – Operations on 13 such as adding/deleting/multiplying etc. to 13 can be performed. Breaking down 13 into 1 and 3 and then performing mathematical operations on 1 and 3 is not allowed.)

(a)(59, 33, 43)
(b)(66, 45, 49)
(c)(47, 36, 41)
(d)(43, 25, 30)

Answer

Why

Correct — B.

Rule: second = first - 21, third = first - 17.

79 - 21 = 58 and 79 - 17 = 62
54 - 21 = 33 and 54 - 17 = 37

Test 66: 66 - 21 = 45 and 66 - 17 = 49, giving exactly (66, 45, 49) — option (b).

A one-line screen says the same thing. The third number always sits 4 above the second (62 - 58 = 4, 37 - 33 = 4), and only 49 - 45 = 4.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
(59, 33, 43) — In (59, 33, 43) the first gap is 59 - 33 = 26, not 21. The gap from the first number to the second is fixed across both given sets.
(c)
(47, 36, 41) — In (47, 36, 41) the first gap is 47 - 36 = 11, not 21, so the set fails at the very first test and needs no further checking.
(d)
(43, 25, 30) — In (43, 25, 30) the first gap is 43 - 25 = 18 and the second is 13 rather than 17. Its last two numbers also differ by 5, not 4.

Concept

With three numbers in a set, fix every relation from one anchor, normally the largest number.

Here the first number is the anchor: subtract 21 for the second and subtract 17 for the third. Both given sets obey it, which is what makes it a rule rather than a coincidence.

Reading it as a chain instead — 79 down to 58, then 58 up to 62 — hides the pattern, because the second move is an increase and the first a decrease.

The stem's NOTE bars digit-level operations, so only whole-number arithmetic counts.

The gap between the last two numbers, 4 in both given sets, eliminates all three wrong options on its own. Screens like this are worth finding first when the options are long.

Key facts

In (79, 58, 62) the second number is 21 less than the first and the third is 17 less.
The same two gaps hold in (54, 33, 37), which is what confirms the rule.
The third number is 4 more than the second in both given sets, which serves as a one-line screen.

Study next

Number-set questions anchored on the largest termSets built on multiplication or on a squared term rather than fixed differencesFinding a single screening relation before checking options in full

Common traps

Reading the set as a chain and looking for a rule from the second number to the third.
Breaking a number into its digits, which the stem's NOTE forbids.

Two model sets, then four candidates, with the whole-numbers-only NOTE attached. Also asked 9 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.16 and 9 Sep 2024, 16:00, Reasoning Q.21 and Q.23.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.