SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 1 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 13 of 99

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.

Study the given table and answer the question that follows. The given table shows the production of different types of refrigerators in a company. Years Types of Refrigerators ABC 2011 2018 1800 1932 2012 2040 1890 1800 2013 2035 1910 1890 2014 2020 1940 1978 2015 1997 1960 1900 In which of the given year(s) was the production of B type refrigerator closest to its average production over the given years?

(a)Both 2012 and 2013
(b)Both 2013 and 2015
(c)Only 2012
(d)2014

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Average the B column, then measure how far each year sits from that average.

B-type production: 2011 = 1800, 2012 = 1890, 2013 = 1910, 2014 = 1940, 2015 = 1960.

Sum = 1800 + 1890 + 1910 + 1940 + 1960 = 9500
Average = 9500 ÷ 5 = 1900

Distance from 1900, year by year:
2011 → 100, 2012 → 10, 2013 → 10
2014 → 40, 2015 → 60

2012 and 2013 tie at 10, the smallest gap of the five, so the answer covers both years → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Both 2013 and 2015 — 2015 produced 1960 units of type B, 60 above the mean of 1900. That is a far larger gap than 2013's 10, so the two do not pair.
(c)
Only 2012 — 2012 is not alone. It sits 10 below 1900, but 2013's 1910 is 10 above — an exact tie, and the stem's "year(s)" invites one.
(d)
2014 — 2014's 1940 is 40 above 1900. Closer than 2011 or 2015, but 2012 and 2013 are each only 10 away.

Concept

A "closest to its average" item is two operations, not one. First compute the mean of the named column only — here type B — then compare each year's absolute distance from that mean, ignoring whether it is above or below.

The setter has arranged 1890 and 1910 symmetrically about 1900, which is what forces the tie and makes a two-year option correct.

A quick check on your mean: the signed deviations must add to zero. Here they are −100, −10, +10, +40 and +60, which do.

Reading the wrong column lands you on a different printed option, which is why the column letter matters more here than the arithmetic.

Column A averages 2022, and the year nearest it is 2014. Column C also averages 1900, but its nearest year is 2015, whose 1900 sits exactly on the mean.

Key facts

The B column reads 1800, 1890, 1910, 1940 and 1960 for 2011 to 2015, and its mean is 1900.
1890 and 1910 are each exactly 10 from 1900, which creates the tie.
Signed deviations from a correct mean always sum to zero — here −100, −10, +10, +40, +60.

Study next

Mean of a data column and absolute deviation from the meanReading a multi-column production table without crossing rowsPercentage change between consecutive years in a table

Common traps

Choosing the largest value, 1960, on the assumption that the biggest year is nearest the average.
Stopping at the first year that is 10 away and picking the single-year option.
Averaging column A by mistake — its mean is 2022 and its nearest year is 2014, which is a printed option.

SSC sets one production table and then asks for a maximum, a ratio, or a distance from the mean, so the arithmetic is small and the reading is where marks are lost.

Also asked 9 Sep 2024, 16:00, Quant Q.11, which asks which of four companies had the maximum average T-shirt production over four years.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.