Figure X is followed by four figures numbered (1), (2), (3), (4). Identify the figure among the four in which figure X is embedded (i.e. contains figure X in the same form).
- (a)3
- (b)4
- (c)2
- (d)1
Answer
Why
Correct — D. Figure X is a rectangle carrying its full horizontal midline, a triangle in the lower half whose apex touches the centre — one line from the bottom-left corner up to the centre and another back down to the bottom-right corner — and an arrowhead attached outside the right edge.
Figure (1) carries every one of those lines. Its two full diagonals supply the bottom-left-to-centre and centre-to-bottom-right arms; its horizontal midline runs edge to edge and on out to the arrow tip; and the arrowhead sits on the right edge exactly as in X.
Its extras — a vertical midline, a small circle at the centre, a large circle over the arrowhead — are irrelevant. Embedded means X's lines are all present, not that nothing else is.
The stem numbers the figures (1) to (4) and the options name those numbers, so figure (1) is option (d).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)3 — Option (a) points to figure (3), which has both diagonals and the arrowhead but no horizontal midline inside the rectangle — the only horizontal stroke there is the short one within the arrowhead. X needs that midline running edge to edge.
- (b)4 — Option (b) points to figure (4), whose lower-left quadrant is blank. X needs a line from the bottom-left corner up to the centre, and figure (4) draws only the arm descending to the bottom-right.
- (c)2 — Option (c) points to figure (2), whose lower-right quadrant is blank. X needs a line from the centre down to the bottom-right corner, and figure (2) draws only the arm rising from the bottom-left.
Concept
An embedded-figure item asks about containment, not resemblance. Every line of X must be present in the answer, in the same orientation and the same proportion; the answer may add as many extra lines as it likes.
The efficient method is to pick X's most awkward feature and hunt for it. Long strokes work best — a full-width midline, a corner-to-corner arm, an outline that reaches the frame — because a figure missing one long stroke is eliminated without checking anything else.
Rotation disqualifies. The stem's phrase 'in the same form' means a candidate that would contain X only after being turned does not count.
The figures are images, so this card names X's parts in words: a rectangle, its horizontal midline, a lower-half triangle apexed at the centre, and a right-pointing arrowhead outside the right edge.
Key facts
- X is a rectangle plus its full horizontal midline, a lower-half triangle apexed at the centre, and an arrowhead on the right edge.
- Figure (1) supplies X's two lower arms as the lower halves of its own full diagonals.
- Extra lines in the containing figure are allowed, but a missing line is fatal.
- The options here are the figure numbers, so option (d) is the answer that names figure (1).
Study next
Common traps
- Matching the overall silhouette, which all four candidate figures share here.
- Missing a stroke that X has and a candidate lacks inside its rectangle, such as the horizontal midline.
- Finding figure (1) and then marking the first option, when the options list the figures out of order.
The identical stem — figure X followed by four numbered figures, 'contains figure X in the same form' — is at 11 Sep 2024, 9:00, Reasoning Q.24, where the key is option (a) and it names figure (2).
The same trick runs there too: the option letters do not follow figure order, so read which number each letter carries before marking.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.