In a certain code language, ‘A + B’ means ‘A is the mother of B’; ‘A − B’ means ‘A is the brother of B’; ‘A × B’ means ‘A is the wife of B’ and ‘A ÷ B’ means ‘A is the father of B’. Based on the above, how is I related to H if ‘B + R × I − T ÷ H’?
- (a)Brother
- (b)Father’s brother
- (c)Father’s sister
- (d)Father’s father
Answer
Why
Correct — B. Decode the chain left to right, one symbol at a time.
'B + R' → B is the mother of R.
'R × I' → R is the wife of I, so I is R's husband.
'I − T' → I is the brother of T.
'T ÷ H' → T is the father of H.
H's father is T, and I is T's brother. So I is H's father's brother → option (b).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Brother — Brother would need I and H to share a parent. The chain makes I the brother of T, and T is H's father, so I stands one generation above H.
- (c)Father’s sister — 'R × I' means R is the wife of I, which fixes I as male. A father's sister cannot come out of this chain.
- (d)Father’s father — Only T stands between I and H, and I is T's brother, not T's father. Grandfather would need a father link running from I to T.
Concept
SSC's symbol-relation items replace the words of a family tree with four operators, then hand you one chain to unpack.
The safe method is mechanical: rewrite each adjacent pair as a sentence in the order the symbols appear, left to right, and read the finished tree only at the end.
Sex comes only from the definitions that carry it. Here 'mother', 'wife' and 'father' each fix one person; 'brother' fixes the person on its left and says nothing about the one on its right.
The chain reads B + R × I − T ÷ H, but B never touches the answer: B is only R's mother, and the question asks about I and H. A chain longer than the question needs is normal in these items.
Key facts
- In this question's code, 'A + B' means A is the mother of B and 'A ÷ B' means A is the father of B — the two parent symbols differ only in the parent's sex.
- 'A × B' means A is the wife of B, so the letter left of × is female and the letter right of it is male.
- 'A − B' means A is the brother of B, which fixes A as male but leaves B's sex open.
Study next
Common traps
- Reading the chain right to left, which turns 'I is the brother of T' into 'T is the brother of I'
- Assuming the first letter of the chain must matter, when B is only R's mother here
- Treating 'brother' as fixing the sex of both people in the pair
The operator legend sits inside the question itself, so read it before decoding rather than carrying meanings over from an earlier paper. Reasoning Q.10 and Q.22 of 26 Sep 2024, 12:30 also hand you a symbol legend to apply literally.
Related PYQs
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