In a certain code language, ‘A + B’ means ‘A is the mother of B’, ‘A – B’ means ‘A is the father of B’, ‘A $ B’ means ‘A is the son of B’, ‘A % B’ means ‘A is the sister of B’, ‘A / B’ means ‘A is the wife of B’ and ‘A = B’ means ‘A is the brother of B’. Which of the following means A is the daughter of K? i. A + K / J – P = D ii. J % P = K + A = D iii. K + A / P – D % J iv. D + K = A / P – J

Correct — B. 'Daughter' has no symbol of its own here, so it has to be built from two pieces: a parent link pointing at A, and something that fixes A as female.

Expression iii is K + A / P – D % J. Read it left to right, each symbol describing the person on its left.

K + A means K is the mother of A, so A is a child of K.
A / P means A is the wife of P, so A is female.

A female child of K is K's daughter, so expression iii is the one — option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  i — Expression i opens A + K, which makes A the mother of K. The parent link runs the wrong way, so A is the older generation here, not the child.
• (c)
  ii — Expression ii gives K + A, so A is K's child, but then A = D makes A the brother of D. A is male, so A is K's son and not her daughter.
• (d)
  iv — Expression iv gives K = A, making K the brother of A. Nothing in the chain makes A a child of K at all, so the relation asked for never appears.

Symbol-coded relation items give a dictionary of six symbols and four candidate chains, and ask which chain encodes one stated relation.

Two habits settle almost all of them. Read strictly left to right, and remember the symbol always describes the person written before it. 'X + Y' is X is the mother of Y, never the reverse.

Then notice which relations the dictionary omits. Daughter, son-in-law and grandmother are usually missing and must be assembled from a link plus a gender marker somewhere else in the chain.

Key facts

• The dictionary in this question is: plus is mother, minus is father, dollar is son, per cent is sister, slash is wife, equals is brother.
• Daughter is not in the dictionary, so it must be built as a parent link plus a female marker on the same person.
• The female markers available are sister and wife, while brother and son mark a person as male.

Common traps

• Reading 'K + A' as A is the mother of K, which reverses every chain in the question
• Finding the parent link and marking at once, without checking that A is fixed as female
• Working symbols that involve neither of the two people named in the question

No directly related past PYQ was found.