SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 10 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 17 of 100

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 6 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.

62 is related to 79 following certain logic. Following the same logic, 98 is related to 119. To which of the following numbers is 14 related, following the same logic? (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)19
(b)21
(c)23
(d)24

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Read every number as a perfect square minus 2, then move to the next square.

62 = 8² − 2 = 64 − 2
79 = 9² − 2 = 81 − 2
So the first pair steps 8² → 9².

98 = 10² − 2 = 100 − 2
119 = 11² − 2 = 121 − 2
The second pair steps 10² → 11². Same rule.

14 = 4² − 2 = 16 − 2
Next square: 5² − 2 = 25 − 2 = 23 — option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
19 — Option (a) is 14 + 5. The gaps in the paper's own pairs are 17 and 21, not a constant, so a fixed addition cannot be the rule.
(b)
21 — Option (b) is 14 + 7, which nothing in the given pairs supports. It also fails the structure test — 21 + 2 = 23, and 23 is not a perfect square.
(d)
24 — Option (d) reads the rule as next square minus 1, giving 25 − 1. But the given numbers sit two below a square: 62 is 64 − 2 and 98 is 100 − 2.

Concept

Number analogies look like arithmetic and are usually structure. A gap of 17 in one pair and 21 in the next tells you at once that no single operation is being added.

So stop and ask what shape the numbers have. Add 2 to each and the answer appears: 64, 81, 100, 121 and 16 are all perfect squares.

The relation is not add something, it is move to the next square in the same family.

The printed note forbidding you to split a number into its digits is a hint, not just a restriction. It says the rule acts on the whole number, so look for squares, cubes, primes or multiples.

Key facts

62 = 8² − 2, 79 = 9² − 2, 98 = 10² − 2, 119 = 11² − 2 and 14 = 4² − 2.
Adding 2 to every number in the question turns 62, 79, 98, 119 and 14 into 64, 81, 100, 121 and 16.
The three gaps 17, 21 and 9 are each the sum of the two consecutive roots: 8 + 9, 10 + 11 and 4 + 5.

Study next

Number analogies built on n² plus or minus a small constant rather than a fixed differenceRecognising squares and cubes that have been shifted by one or twoWhole-number analogy items where digit operations are explicitly barred

Common traps

Working out 79 − 62 = 17 and 119 − 98 = 21 and abandoning the question when the gaps disagree
Choosing 24 by taking the next square minus 1 instead of minus 2
Ignoring the note and splitting 62 into 6 and 2

The printed note about not breaking a number into digits narrows the search to whole-number families — squares, cubes, primes and their small shifts.
A squares-of-primes series sits in this same paper — also asked 10 Sep 2024, 16:00, Reasoning Q.23.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.