Grasp the basics of Puzzles

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Akanksha Jigyasu (/user/akanksha-jigyasu-i-2494ff82-e0ea-11e5-

(/user/akanksha-
jigyasu- bb82-8a8eb730797c)
i- SHARED INFO Sep 30 Bank & Insurance

Grasp the basics of Puzzles

Dear Readers,
Ever heard of Sherlock Holmes?? Okay, lets come to something more desi, how
about Byomkesh Bakshi?? They love mysteries, and who doesnt? Ever
wondered what makes them so good at solving these puzzles? Well, they
OBSERVE, even the minutest details and they infer from the situation
accordingly.
Thats exactly what one needs to do while attempting any puzzle - Observe
carefully because its all there in front of you. Puzzles aim at testing your
Ingenuity and Observational skills.
Categorisingthe puzzles is a dif cult job since a number of puzzles can be framed
by varying the parameters of the same puzzle. For instance they may give you a
puzzle by varying the oors on which a person lives or thecoloursthey like or
their workplace. So instead of de ning the types of puzzles, lets focus on what
approach you should follow while attempting a puzzle.
Keep following things in mind while solving a puzzle -
Read the puzzle properly rst.
Youll nd a lot of links. Each detail is interlinked with some other piece of
information.
There arent exactly any de ned short tricks for solving puzzles. It just
needs thorough practice.
Start with easy puzzles rst to clear the basic approach that should be
followed while solving a puzzle. Look up the connecting pieces of
information. This will help you comprehend the nitty-gritty of the puzzle
structure.
Imagine all the possible scenarios. Start with the basic structure of the
puzzle and try to draw all the possible options if substituting all the
options in one arrangement confuses you. For instance, you are given a
puzzle about various plays that are screened on different days of the week
and it is said that Play 1 is screened neither on Sunday, nor on Wednesday
or Friday. In this case, youll have 4 options when the play can be screened.
You can form a table and consider all the cases separately i.e. you can draw
the different possibilities in different columns. Youll be able to strike out
the incorrect options as you proceed with the arrangement.
Tabulating the data will help you approach the question easily.
When more than one parameters are given in the question, try and keep one
parameter constant and substitute the others as per the puzzle. For
instance, you are given a puzzle in which 7 people work on different days of
the week and like differentcolours. In this case you can keep the column of
week days constant and try forming the various possibilities as per the
question.
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(/) If a piece of information is not linked to any other, make note of it
separately and proceed further. Once you are done with the remaining
arrangement, you should be able to substitute the previous unlinked
information into it.
 For the parameters regarding which no information has been provided,
look at the entire arrangement and you should be able to substitute them
logically.

Now let us take up the following example to have a clear picture of the above
points.
Consider the following puzzle with single parameter -
Eight persons - A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H live on separate oors of an
eightstoreybuilding. Ground oor is numbered 1, the oor above it 2 and so on
such that the topmost oor is numbered 8.
1. B lives on oor number 6
2. E lives on an even numbered oor
3. E lives immediately below the oor of F
4. Only one person lives between A and H
5. A lives below the oor of H
6. C lives on the lowermost oor
7. D does not live on the top most oor.

For this question, oor is the parameter. We will form our table keeping the
oor number constant and placing the people as per the question.

(https://gs-blog-images.s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/blogs/wp- Login / Register

content/uploads/2016/09/30060053/puzzle-table1.png)
(/)
First clause is straightforward, so well place B at oor no. 6. Now as per 2nd
condition, E can live at oor 8 / 4 / 2. But as per 3rd condition, it cant live at oor
no. 8. So we have two scenarios now. Well draw them in separate columns and
substitute F at the oors above E. As per 4th condition, A and H can occupy only
3rd and 1st oor in possibility 1 and 7th and 5th oors in possibility 2. Well go
through 5th condition and then place A and H in the two scenarios. Now if we look
at the 6th condition, we can strike out our 1st possibility. As per 7th condition, we
can place D at 4th oor. Now nothing is mentioned about G but if you look at the
arrangement, you can easily place G at oor 8.
You can solve questions with more than one parameters in the similar manner
by keeping any one parameter constant and placing others parameters as per
the question.
Remember, to have a good hold of this topic, you require regular practice. This will
also help you work on your speed. So attempt at least 3-4 puzzles regularly. Have
a clear head while you attempt questions in the exam. Dont bedeterredby the
language of the question. Youll be able to mark out all the conditions once you
read it properly.
So, practice regularly and give your best in the exams.
All the best..
Team Gradeup..!!

Tags : Bank & Insurance (/banking-insurance) IBPS PO (/banking-insurance/ibps-po)

Reasoning Ability (/banking-insurance/reasoning-ability)

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(/user/himanshu-
i- Himanshu (/user/himanshu-i-bf9148a3-c1b8-11e5-9d3d-5ca83c7e4dc3)
Nov 15
thanks
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Nitin Sarwade (/user/nitin-sarwade-i-55a48a30-a89c-11e6-8dbe-

(/user/nitin-
sarwade-abe8f93825f9) Nov 16
Thank you sir
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Saubhagya Mandal (/user/saubhagya-mandal-i-90e1d7e0-acef-11e6-bd02-

(/user/saubhagya-
mandal-611b3cfc5c69) Nov 18
Where to i nd practice questions on puzzle?
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Sumit kumar Gupta (/user/sumit-kumar-gupta-i-4e3cfbf5-4a86-11e6-aba2-

(/user/sumit-
kumar- 1480be8312e7) Nov 21
thnks sir
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Virang Patel (/user/virang-patel-i-d552741b-9175-11e6-accd-37032557c2e9)

(/user/virang-
patel- Nov 22
Thanks
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Ankit panwar (/user/ankit-panwar-i-bdaae100-38fe-11e6-b0fe-af99e94811d4)

(/user/ankit-
panwar- Nov 24
Thnku so much
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Janaki Das (/user/janaki-das-i-771242e7-9f85-11e6-9fb9-efa80cd8d00c)

(/user/janaki-
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ks-i- Anupama KS (/user/anupama-ks-i-ffaa0807-775b-11e6-9868-ee6269e155f7)
Yesterday, 05 am
Thank you
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Nitin Sarwade (/user/nitin-sarwade-i-55a48a30-a89c-11e6-8dbe-

(/user/nitin-
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Thank you sir
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