SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Intelligence and Reasoning · Question 24 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.

In a certain code language, ‘D’ is coded as ‘16’, ‘B’ is coded as ‘4’ and ‘T’ is coded as ‘400’. How will ‘H’ be coded in the same language?

(a)36
(b)64
(c)25
(d)8

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Read each code as a function of the letter's position in the alphabet.

D is the 4th letter and is coded 16 = 4².
B is the 2nd letter and is coded 4 = 2².
T is the 20th letter and is coded 400 = 20².

Rule: the code is the square of the letter's alphabet position.

H is the 8th letter, so its code is 8² = 64 → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
36 — 36 is 6², which would be the code for F. H stands at position 8, not 6.
(c)
25 — 25 is 5², which would be the code for E. H is the 8th letter, not the 5th.
(d)
8 — 8 is H's alphabet position left unsquared. Apply that reading to the given examples and B would be coded 2, not 4.

Concept

Letter-to-number codes are built on the alphabet position, and this question hands you three worked examples — enough to fix the operation rather than guess it.

The codes given are 16, 4 and 400 for D, B and T. Positions 4, 2 and 20 make the operation clear the moment you notice that all three codes are perfect squares.

Test a candidate rule against every example, not just the first. 'Position × 4' fits D, since 4 × 4 = 16, and dies immediately on B, where 2 × 4 = 8 rather than 4.

T = 400 is the useful example: doubling, adding a constant or multiplying by a small number cannot carry 20 to 400, while squaring does it exactly.

Key facts

Alphabet positions: B=2, D=4, H=8, T=20.
The codes given are 2² = 4, 4² = 16 and 20² = 400.
H at position 8 gives 8² = 64.

Study next

Letter codes built on the position cubed, or on the position times a constantReverse alphabet positions, where A = 26 and Z = 1Codes that map a letter to its opposite letter first and only then to a number

Common traps

Answering 8, which is H's alphabet position with the squaring step forgotten
Testing the rule against only one of the three given codes
Counting H as the 7th letter by starting the alphabet at zero

Coding also runs on 26 Sep 2024, 12:30 at Reasoning Q.2, where FUTURE becomes IXWXUH by shifting every letter three places, and at Q.25, where whole words carry the codes.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.