SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 20 of 95

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.

16 is related to 112 following a certain logic. Following the same logic, 26 is related to 182. To which of the following is 44 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)310
(b)302
(c)308
(d)312

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Rule: second number = first number × 7.

16 × 7 = 112, which matches the first pair.
26 × 7 = 182, which matches the second pair.

Apply it to 44:
44 × 7 = (40 × 7) + (4 × 7)
= 280 + 28 = 308 → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
310 — 310 is 44 × 7 plus 2. The link is a clean multiplication with nothing added, and a constant added on top would already have broken 16 → 112.
(b)
302 — 302 fails the units-digit check before you finish the sum: 4 × 7 ends in 8, so 44 × 7 cannot end in 2.
(d)
312 — 312 would need a multiplier somewhere between 7 and 8. The same units test kills it — 44 × 7 must end in 8, and 312 ends in 2.

Concept

The bracketed NOTE is the whole instruction: operate on 16 and 26 as numbers, never on the digits 1, 6 and 2. That rules out reading 112 as 1 and 12, or any other digit game.

With digits locked out, walk a short ladder of whole-number links — difference, ratio, square, cube, then compounds such as 7n or n² + k. Here the ratio 112 ÷ 16 = 7 lands on the first try, and 182 ÷ 26 = 7 confirms it before you look at the options at all.

Two given pairs is the minimum needed to rule out a coincidence, so always test your rule on the second pair. Here 112 − 16 = 96 while 182 − 26 = 156, so a difference rule dies immediately and the ratio survives.

Key facts

112 ÷ 16 = 7 and 182 ÷ 26 = 7, so the link is multiplication by 7.
44 × 7 = 308.
The bracketed NOTE forbids splitting a number into its digits.
A units-digit check filters the options fast, because 4 × 7 ends in 8.

Study next

Number-pair analogies built on n², n³ and n³ ± nNumber-pair sets asking which pair does NOT share the linkReading the whole-number NOTE and knowing exactly which moves it bans

Common traps

Testing only the first pair and never confirming the rule on the second.
Splitting 112 into 1 and 12 despite the NOTE that forbids it.
Choosing an option close to 308 without running the units-digit check.

The frame 'X is related to Y following a certain logic' recurs across shifts with a different operation behind it — also at 25 Sep 2024, 16:00, Reasoning Q.6 (14 → 42, a ×3 link) and 25 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.11 (18 → 90, a ×5 link). Reasoning Q.21 of the same paper reuses the frame with cubes.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.