SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 12 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 set in which the numbers are related in the same way as are the numbers of the following sets. (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.) (16, 7, 112) (8, 12, 96)

(a)(13, 7, 96)
(b)(14, 9, 128)
(c)(12, 5, 65)
(d)(15, 8, 120)

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Both given triples are a bare product, with nothing added.

(16, 7, 112): 16 × 7 = 112
(8, 12, 96): 8 × 12 = 96

Rule: third = first × second

Test option (d): 15 × 8 = 120, and 120 is the third number given. The triple fits exactly.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
(13, 7, 96) — (13, 7, 96) gives 13 × 7 = 91, not 96. It misses by five, and neither worked triple leaves room for a constant to be added.
(b)
(14, 9, 128) — (14, 9, 128) gives 14 × 9 = 126, not 128. The near miss is the trap — 128 looks like a designed number, but the product falls two short.
(c)
(12, 5, 65) — (12, 5, 65) gives 12 × 5 = 60, not 65. Adding five would rescue it, but the two given triples need no addition at all.

Concept

This is the set-matching format again, this time with a plain product and no constant. The format tells you nothing about the arithmetic — the two given triples do.

Test multiplication first whenever the third number is much larger than the other two. 16 × 7 = 112 and 8 × 12 = 96 both land exactly, so no adjustment is needed.

Then apply the rule to all four options and stop at the one that lands exactly. In the three wrong triples the printed third number exceeds the product by 5, 2 and 5 — near misses, by design.

Reasoning Q.11 in this section uses the same format with a different rule, where the middle number is the product of the outer two plus five. Deriving afresh matters more than remembering.

Key facts

For both given triples the third number is the product of the first two: 16 × 7 = 112 and 8 × 12 = 96.
Option (d) fits exactly, since 15 × 8 = 120.
In each wrong triple the printed third number exceeds the product of the first two — by 5, 2 and 5 respectively.

Study next

Triples built on (a × b) + c or (a × b) − c, where a constant is involvedNumber-pair items with a single input and a single outputSets whose rule uses squares, as in a² + b

Common traps

Carrying over a rule from an earlier set item instead of deriving this one
Choosing (14, 9, 128) because 128 looks like a deliberately chosen number
Checking only one of the two given triples before moving on to the options

The NOTE forbidding digit-splitting marks this whole family — Reasoning Q.11 here uses it with a plus-five rule, and Reasoning Q.15 on 10 Sep 2024 (09:00) prints the given sets as (7, 9, 48) and (6, 8, 42).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.