SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 8 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.

In a certain code language, A + B means ‘A is the son of B’, A − B means ‘A is the wife of B’, A × B means ‘A is the brother of B’ and A ÷ B means ‘A is the daughter of B’. Based on the above, how is P related to R if ‘P × S ÷ M − T + R’?

(a)Daughter
(b)Brother
(c)Father’s mother
(d)Son’s son

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Rule: read the string left to right, one symbol at a time, and build the family as you go.

P × S: P is the brother of S
S ÷ M: S is the daughter of M
M − T: M is the wife of T
T + R: T is the son of R

So T and M are a married couple, and their children are S and her brother P. T is himself R's son, which puts P one generation below R's son.

P is therefore R's son's son — option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Daughter — P is the brother of S, so P is male. He also stands two generations below R rather than one.
(b)
Brother — Brother is P's relation to S, read straight off P × S. The question asks about R, who is two generations further up.
(c)
Father’s mother — That names a woman two generations above R. P is two generations below R, and P is male.

Concept

Coded blood relations hand you a fresh legend and a chain to unwind. The only reliable method is to take the symbols in printed order and extend a small family tree as each one is read.

Each symbol carries two things: direction, meaning who stands above whom, and gender. A + B means A is the son of B, so A is male and one generation below B.

Never carry a legend over from a question you have solved before. The same four symbols are given different meanings at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.13.

The chain fixes P's sex through P × S and fixes the generations through T + R, which is all the answer needs. M, as the wife of R's son, is R's daughter-in-law, but that step is never required.

Key facts

P × S makes P male, because the legend reads A is the brother of B.
S ÷ M and M − T place S among the children of M and T, who are married.
T + R makes T the son of R, so R is a grandparent to T's children.
P is a child of T and M, and therefore R's son's son.

Study next

Blood-relation legends that add sister, husband and father symbolsQuestions that reverse the task and ask which coded string produces a stated relationGeneration counting across three-level family trees

Common traps

Reusing a legend remembered from another question instead of reading the one printed
Answering with P's relation to S rather than P's relation to R
Losing track of P's gender, which is the only thing separating son's son from a daughter

The A + B legend format is asked at 11 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.13, where the same four symbols carry different meanings, and at 13 Sep 2024, 12:30, Reasoning Q.6, which reverses the task and asks which chain encodes a stated relation.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.