11.

Chain of Letters and Numbers

In this chapter, the problems contain some letters or numbers written in a line to form a chain. These letters
or numbers need not necessarily follow any pattern or rule. Questions are asked based on this letter or
number chain. Students are required to observe the given chain of letters or numbers carefully and answer
the questions given there upon.
In some problems, students are asked to rearrange the letters in English alphabet according to some
conditions given therein. Questions are asked based on the new arrangement of letters. Students are required
to observe new arrangement of letters and answer the questions.

Example 1
Observe the following chain of numbers carefully and answer the questions.

5 3 7 7 3 4 2 6 3 7 2 7 1 3 7 7 3 7 3 4 3 2 3 7 6 1 3 7

(1) How many 3s are followed by 7 but are not preceded by 1?

(1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 [ ]

(2) If all the 2s and 6s are dropped which number is exactly between 11 th number from the left and 15 th
number from the right?
(1) 1 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 7 [ ]

(3) How many pairs of consecutive numbers, if added together amount to eight?
(1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 [ ]

(4) Beginning with the first number, make groups of 4 numbers and add the numbers in each group together.
Which group has the highest sum?
(1) 1st (2) 3rd (3) 4th (4) 7th [ ]
Analysis
1. Mark all 3s in the given number chain, which are followed by 7 and not preceded by 1.

5 3 7 7 3 4 2 6 3 7 2 7 1 3 7 7 3 7 3 4 3 2 3 7 6 1 3 7

There are four such 3s

Answer: 3

2. On dropping all 2s and 6s, the chain of number appears as under.

5 3 7 7 3 4 3 7 7 1 3 7 7 3 7 3 4 3 3 7 1 3 7

3 and 7 are the 11 th number from left and 15th number from right respectively.1 is the number between
these two numbers.
Answer: 1

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3. Sum of each pair of consecutive numbers is furnished below.

8 10 14 10 7 6 8 9 10 9 9 8 4 10 14 10 10 10 7 7 5 5 10 13 7 4 10
Three pairs of consecutive numbers add to8.
Answer: 2

4. If four numbers from the beginning are grouped together, we get 7 such groups. The sum of numbers in
each group is as furnished below.
22 15 19 18 17 15 17

Sum of numbers in the 1st group amounts to 22 and this is the highest.
Answer: 1

Example 2
Write the first 13 letters of English alphabet in the reverse order. Then write the remaining 13 letters in the
reverse order.

1. How many letters are there between C and T?

(1) 7 (2) 16 (3) 8 (4) 15 [ ]

2. Which is the letter exactly in the middle of 15th letter from right and 18th letter from left?
(1) B (2) M (3) X (4) Y [ ]

3. Which is the letter to the right of 20th letter from the right?
(1) F (2) H (3) E (4) I [ ]

Analysis

Write all the 26 letters of English alphabet as suggested in the problem.

M L K J I H G F E D C B A Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N

1. We observe that there are 8 letters between C and T.

Answer: 3

2. B is the 15th letter from right and V is the 18th letter from left. The letter Y is in the middle of B and V.
Answer: 4

3. G is the 20th letter from right and the letter F is to the right of G.
Answer: 1

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Exercises 1

Choose the correct answer and enter it in the bracket provided

Observe the following chain of numbers carefully and answer the questions from 1 to 4.

9 3 4 5 9 3 5 9 3 6 4 3 9 3 3 5 3 9 5 3 9 3 7 5 7 5 9 3 9

1. How many 3s are preceded by 9 but not followed by 5?

(1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 [ ]

2. How many 5s have odd numbers on both right and left?

(1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 [ ]

3. Which two numbers have been repeated the same number of times?
(1) 9 and 5 (2) 4 and 7 (3) 6 and 4 (4) 6 and 7 [ ]

4. What is the proportion in the occurrence of the number 9 and 3?

(1) 2 : 3 (2) 3 : 4 (3) 4 : 5 (4) 1 : 3 [ ]

In the English alphabet, the positions of A and C are interchanged, the positions of B and D are
interchanged. Likewise, the positions of E and G are interchanged and the positions of F and H are
also interchanged. This process is continued till X and finally, ‘Y’ is put at the end and ‘Z’ at the
beginning.
5. Which would be the 15th letter from the beginning?
(1) N (2) O (3) P (4) Q [ ]

6. Which letter would be exactly in the middle of 21st letter from the beginning and 16th letter from the end?
(1) M (2) K (3) J (4) N [ ]

7. Which are the letters on either side of Q?

(1) P and R (2) T and R (3) T and S (4) S and P [ ]

8. Which letter is to the left of 9th letter from last?

(1) P (2) O (3) Q (4) N [ ]

All the letters from A to Z were written in reverse order.

9. Which letter is in the middle of 15th letter from right and 14th from left?
(1) M (2) N (3) O (4) P [ ]

10. Which letter is at the 4th position to the left of 21st letter from the right?
(1) X (2) Z (3) Y (4) W [ ]

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Write the first 3 letters of English alphabet in their proper order, the next three in reverse order, the
next three in proper order, the next three in reverse, thus write up to ‘X’. Then put ‘Y’ before ‘A’ at
the beginning and ‘Z’ at the end.
11. Which is the 13th letter from the beginning? [ ]
12. Which letter is to the right of P? [ ]
th th
13. Which letter is exactly in the middle of 15 from the last and 18 from the beginning? [ ]
th
14. Which letters are on the right and left of 8 letter from the end? [ ]

The letters from A to M are written leaving space for one letter between them and then the remaining
letters are inserted beginning with N and ending the series with Z after M.
15. Which letter would be exactly between J and K? [ ]
th th
16. Which letter would be exactly in the middle of 18 letter from the beginning and 15
from the end? [ ]
th
17. Which letter would be third to the right of 7 letter from left? [ ]
th
18. Which letter would be 12 letter from the beginning? [ ]
th th
19. Which letter would be between 20 letter from the beginning and 9 letter from the end? [ ]
th
20. Which letter is third to the right of 15 letter from the left? [ ]

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