SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 19 September 2024, Shift 3 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 4 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.

Select the triad in which the numbers are related to each other in the same way as the numbers in the following triads. 4-5-41 2-3-13 (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)7-8-110
(b)10-11-211
(c)12-13-213
(d)5-6-61

Answer

Why

Correct — D.

Rule: third number = first squared + second squared.

4-5-41: 4² + 5² = 16 + 25 = 41
2-3-13: 2² + 3² = 4 + 9 = 13

Now test the keyed triad:
5² + 6² = 25 + 36 = 61

61 is exactly the third number printed, so option (d) follows the rule.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
7-8-110 — 7² + 8² = 49 + 64 = 113, but the triad prints 110. It is short by three, which is close enough to pass an unchecked glance.
(b)
10-11-211 — 10² + 11² = 100 + 121 = 221, not the 211 printed. Only the middle digit differs, 2 against 1, which is what makes the triad look right at a glance.
(c)
12-13-213 — 12² + 13² = 144 + 169 = 313, while the triad prints 213. A full hundred is missing.

Concept

The bracketed NOTE is half the instruction: operate on whole numbers, never on their digits. With that in force, a triad such as 2-3-13 has to be explained by arithmetic on 2 and 3, and 2² + 3² = 13 is the first thing to try.

Squares are the workhorse of these items. When the third number is roughly the square of the largest, test a² + b² first, then a² − b², then a² + b.

Both given triads must fit before you carry a rule to the options. One match can be a coincidence, and 4-5-41 alone leaves several readings open.

Three of the wrong triads are near misses rather than nonsense — 110 against 113, 211 against 221, 213 against 313. The item is testing whether you actually compute rather than recognise.

Key facts

4² + 5² = 41 and 2² + 3² = 13, so the rule is first squared plus second squared.
5² + 6² = 61, the third number of the keyed triad.
The printed NOTE forbids splitting a number such as 13 into the digits 1 and 3.

Study next

Triads built on a² − b², or on the product of the first two plus a constantNumber pairs of the form n and n² + k, where one number generates the otherOdd-one-out on number triples, which carries the same whole-number NOTE

Common traps

Trying digit operations on the third number, which the printed NOTE bans outright.
Accepting 10-11-211 because 221 and 211 look alike under time pressure.

The same bracketed NOTE is printed on Reasoning Q.14, Q.15 and Q.16 in this shift — Q.14 on triads, Q.15 as an odd one out, Q.16 on a number pair.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.