SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 13 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 24 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 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.

Select the triad in which the numbers are related to each other in the same way as are the numbers of the given triads. (148, 126, 104), (98, 76, 54) (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)(149, 137, 115)
(b)(157, 135, 113)
(c)(128, 104, 82)
(d)(134, 102, 90)

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Take consecutive differences inside each printed triad, then inside each option.

Rule: each number is 22 less than the one before it.

148 − 126 = 22 and 126 − 104 = 22
98 − 76 = 22 and 76 − 54 = 22

157 − 135 = 22
135 − 113 = 22

Option (b) is the triad that steps down by 22 both times.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
(149, 137, 115) — (149, 137, 115) falls 12 and then 22. The first step already breaks the rule, and a matching second step does not rescue it.
(c)
(128, 104, 82) — (128, 104, 82) falls 24 and then 22. A near miss like this is why the first difference is worth taking before the second.
(d)
(134, 102, 90) — (134, 102, 90) falls 32 and then 12. Neither step is 22.

Concept

Triad analogies hand you two worked examples precisely so you can test a rule twice before trusting it. Take the differences first: when both examples share one constant difference, the rule is settled and no ratio, product or square needs checking.

The rider printed here — operate on the whole numbers, never on their digits — puts digit sums, reversals and place-value tricks out of scope.

With those gone, the order to test is addition and subtraction, then multiplication and division, then squares and cubes.

Two of the wrong triads get the second difference right and the first one wrong, so a candidate who checks only the last two numbers of each option will pass both of them as valid.

Key facts

148, 126, 104 and 98, 76, 54 both step down by 22 at each stage.
157, 135, 113 steps down by 22 twice, which is why it matches.
The printed rider forbids splitting a number into its digits, which removes digit-sum and reversal rules.

Study next

Triad analogies built on ratios rather than differencesTriads where the rule is a x b + c applied to whole numbersNumber-pair odd-one-out carrying the same whole-number rider

Common traps

Checking only the difference between the last two numbers of an option.
Hunting for a digit relation despite the rider.
Assuming the step must be a round number such as 20 or 25.

Whole-number relations recur across the section: Reasoning Q.2 asks for a triad matching 16-40-100 and 8-20-50, Reasoning Q.10 relates 16 to 30 and 81 to 110, and Reasoning Q.15 asks which pair of primes does not belong beside the other three.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.