SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 19 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 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 in the same way as are the numbers of the given triads. (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.) (3, 5, 32) (9, 1, 26)

(a)(5, 6, 33)
(b)(4, 2, 28)
(c)(6, 1, 23)
(d)(2, 6, 30)

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Rule: (first × second) + 17 = third.

3 × 5 = 15, and 15 + 17 = 32
9 × 1 = 9, and 9 + 17 = 26

Pinning the constant is what the two given triads are for: 32 − 15 and 26 − 9 both come to 17.

Option (c) is (6, 1, 23): 6 × 1 = 6, and 6 + 17 = 23, which is the triad's own third number.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
(5, 6, 33) — 5 × 6 = 30, and 30 + 17 = 47, while (a) prints 33. It sits furthest of the four from the rule, which makes it the easiest to drop.
(b)
(4, 2, 28) — 4 × 2 = 8, and 8 + 17 = 25. (b) prints 28, three too many — near enough to survive a hurried check.
(d)
(2, 6, 30) — 2 × 6 = 12, and 12 + 17 = 29. (d) prints 30, out by exactly one, which makes it the sharpest trap in the set.

Concept

A triad analogy usually hides one of three things: a constant added to a product, a constant multiplier, or a difference of squares or cubes.

Start with the product. Multiply the first two numbers of each given triad and compare the result with the third, and if the gap is the same both times the rule is a fixed constant.

Once the constant is known each option costs one multiplication and one addition, so the item becomes a thirty-second check rather than a search.

Two of the three wrong options land within three of their target — (b) is out by 3 and (d) by 1 — which is deliberate.

Close is not the same as correct, and the arithmetic here is small enough that there is no reason to accept a near miss.

Key facts

Both given triads satisfy first times second plus 17 equals third.
32 − (3 × 5) = 17 and 26 − (9 × 1) = 17, so the constant is fixed by two independent examples.
Option (c) gives 6 × 1 + 17 = 23, matching its third number.
The whole-numbers rider forbids splitting 23 into 2 and 3 before operating.

Study next

Number analogies built on squares and cubes, such as third equals first squared minus secondTwo-number pair analogies, which give less evidence and so demand more careOdd-one-out over trios, which asks the same question in reverse

Common traps

Settling for an option that is one or two off instead of finishing the arithmetic
Deriving the constant from a single given triad, so a coincidence passes as a rule
Multiplying the second and third numbers instead of the first and second

SSC gives two solved triads and four candidates, with the whole-numbers rider attached. Triad analogies also run 23 Sep 2024, 09:00, Reasoning Q.10 and 19 Sep 2024, 16:00, Reasoning Q.14.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.