Government of Tamilnadu

Department of Employment and Training

Course : Railway Recruitment Board

Subject : Reasoning

Topic : Coding and Decoding

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 CODING- DECODING

A CODE is a system of signals.therefore,coding is a method of transmitting a message between

the sender and the receiver without a third person knowing it.

Coding a d Decoding test is set up to judge the candidate‟s ability to decipher the rule that codes
a particular word / message and break the code to decipher the message.

TYPES OF CODING DECODING QUESTIONS

This type of question involves following :

1.Letter coding

2.Number coding

3.Substitution

4.Mixed letter Coding

5.Mixed number coding

6.Deciphering individual letter codes by Analysis

7.Group coding

8.Decoding

1.LETTER CODING.

In these question, real alphabets in a word are replaced by certain other alphabets according to a
specific rule to form its code and we are required to detect the common rule and the questions
accordingly.

Letter coding is a secretive language used to change representation of the actual term /word
/value.

Coded language can be framed by following :

1.Moving letters one or more steps forward or backward

2 .substituting numbers for letters and vice-versa

3.Writing letters of the given word in reverse order in part of in whole

4.Replacing letters in their natural series by the same positioned letter in their reverse series.

Alphabets in Natural series

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

Alphabets in Reverse series

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

2.NUMBER CODING .

In the type of coding , digits and its coded letters or vice versa are already given .we have to find
out answer to the given question tallying the given code .

3.SUBSTITUTION.

In this type of questions, some particular objects are assigned code names.Then a question is
asked that is to be answered in the code language.

4.MIXED LETTER CODING (SENTENCE CODING).

In this type of questions, three or four complete messages are given in the coded language and
the code for a particular word is asked .To analyse such codes, any two messages bearing a
common word are picked up .The common code word will mean that word . Proceeding
similarly by picking up all possible combination of two ,the entire message can be analysed.

5.MIXED NUMBER CODING .

In this type of questions, a few group of numbers each coding a certain short message, are given
.Through a comparison of the given coded messages, taking two at a time , we are required to
find the number code for each word and then formulate the code for the message given.
6.DECIPHERING INDIVIDUAL LETTER CODES BY ANALYSIS.

In this type of questions, certain sample words are given along with their codes. We are required
to decipher individual codes for different letters by comparing, taking two words at a time ,and
then answer the given questions accordingly .

7.GROUP CODING .

In this type of coding , capital letters A to Z are coded by sing the small letters a to z. With the
help of the coding pattern ,we have to find the right code from the columns which is equivalent
to the group of capital letters .

8.DECODING.

It is the reverse of coding. Here code needs to be deciphered with the help of given words .Each
letter in a word are replaced by certain other alphabets according to a specific rule.

Example 1: In some language, “EXAM” is coded as “FYBN”. In the same language, how will
we code “RESULT”?

A) SFTVMU B) REPTUY C) ERICCART D) KYLEBROW

Answer: The first step is to detect the code. For that, we need to focus on the word EXAM. The
first letter E in code is F, similarly the code for X is Y, for A it is B and for M it is N. Thus we
see that in this language the alphabet is shifted to one step to the front. Thus the code for R will
be S and hence the correct option here is A) SFTVMU.

Example 2: In a certain code, “Delhi is capital” is coded as “7 5 9”. The sentence “capital are
beautiful” is coded as “3 6 9”, and “Delhi is beautiful” is coded as “6 7 5”. Also “Patna also
capital‟ is coded as “9 2 4”. What is the code for “beautiful” in this code?
A) 2 B) 4 C) 5 D) 6 E) 7
Answer: To solve codes like these remember the order of the numbers may be anything. For
example, in “Delhi is capital” and “Delhi is beautiful”, we can see that the words “Delhi is” are
common and thus we can see that capital is 9 and beautiful is 6. Therefore the correct option here
is D) 6.

Example 3: If “LESD” is written as “ @ $ & # “ , “NAC” is written as “ % ? * “, how

“CANDLES” is coded in the same way?

A) *&%#$&) B) *?%&@$# C) *&^$@() D) ?@$@^%@&

Answer: In the code, we can see that the code for L is @. Building on to that we can see that the
option B) *?%&@$# is the correct option.

Example 4: In the following, a certain code is given. According to this code, “before West to
mailing” is written as “ad mi ja no”, “the West to Himalaya” is written as “ku ja ig ad”. Also
“mailing of the layout” is written as “be ku zo mi” and “to should of changes” is written as “be Ii
ya ja”.
Then what is the code for “should”?
A) be B) Ii C) ya D) ja E) Data insufficient

Answer: To solve these types of questions, a table may come in handy. Check for the two
sentences that have the most number of similar words. Let us put all the terms in the table and
see if we can get the correct answer or not. Let us see what “to” is coded as:

Before West to Mailing – ad mi ja no

the West to Himalaya – ku ja ig ad

The two have ony one code in common. This means that the relation can‟t be determined. Thus
the option is E) Data insufficient.
Example No. 5: If HARISH is coded as ITJSBI, then how would REEMAbe coded?

Sol: In this case, the immediate next letter in the alphabet is taken and the code is written in the
reverse order i.e. the code for the letter H is I and it is in the end, the code for A is B and it is
second from the end, similarly the code for R is S and it is third from the end and so on. While
coding the word REEMA, the code for R will be S and it would be written in the end, similarly
the codes for E, E, M and A would be F, F, N and B respectively. And the final code would be
BNFFS. This type is called as+1 and reverse order.

Example No.6: If CALENDAR = QZCMDKZB, then NEELAM = ?

Sol: This type is just a bit different from the previous type. This is called – 1 and reverse order.
Now C – 1 = B and it is the last letter in the code, code for A, L, E are Z, K and D respectively
and these are written as the second, third and fourth letter respectively from the end of the word
in the code. Similarly the code for the word NEELAM would be LZKDDM.

Example No.7: If RELATION = 95312965, then MANAGEMENT = ?

Sol: In this case, the code for every letter is its position in the alphabetic order, represented as a
single digit. If its position is already a single number, then it is simply assigned as the code,and if
there are two digits in its position, then those digits are added to get the code for that letter. In
this case R is the 18th letter so itscode would be 1 + 8 = 9, E is the 5th letter so its code is 5, L
isthe 12th letter so its code is 1 + 2 = 3, A is 1 and so on.Similarly when the code for the word
MANAGEMENT is made. M is 13, 1 + 3 = 4. A= 1, N is 14 1 + 4 = 5, A = 1, G = 7 and so on.
The final code for the word MANAGEMENT would be 4151754552
Example No.8: If the code for the number 84219643 is 24139864,then what is the code for
97658256 ?

Sol: In this case, the eight-lettered number has been broken into two parts i.e. 84219643, the
underlined part is 1st part starting with 2 and ending with 6,the second part is 4384, starting with
4 and ending with 4. So while making code 1 number from each part is taken. 2 is taken from
part 1, then 4 is taken from part 2, 1 is taken from part 1, 3 is taken from part 2 and so on.

Similarly while coding 97658256, you should also take the digits at the same position as the first
part i.e. 6582 and the second part would be 5697. 6 will be taken from 1st part, 5 will be taken
from2nd part, 5 would be taken from the first part, 6 from the second part, 8 from the 1st part, 9
from the second part, 2 from the first part and 7 from the second part. So the code is 65568927.

Example No. 9: If SHIVANI = 574, then GANESH = ?

Sol: in this case, EJOTY of all the words has been added,multiplied by the number of letters in
that word. SHIVANI => S = 19, H = 8, I = 9, V = 22, A = 1, N = 14, I = 9 => 19 + 8 + 9 + 22 + 1
+ 14 + 9 = 82 × 7 ( .: there are 7 letters in the word SHIVANI), Similarly while making code for
GANESH => 7 + 1+ 14 + 5 + 19 + 8 = 54 × 6 ( .: there are six letters) = 324 would be the code.

Example No. 10: If ACTIVITY = 24315137, Then ELEPHANT = ?

Sol: It involves the position of alphabet in the alphabetic order + 1. If it becomes a single digit
number, write it and if it is a two digit number then add it to get a single digit number as in
question no. 13. Similarly ELEPHANT => E = 5 + 1 = 6, L = 12 +1 = 13 => 1 + 3 = 4, E = 5 + 1
=6, P = 16 + 1 = 17 => 1 + 7 = 8 and so on. The code will become 64689263.

Example No.11: If EVITCDNIV = HZNZJLWSG, then ABDICTION = ?

Sol: In this question, firstly + 2, then + 3, +4, +5, +6,+7 and so on. Similarly when the code for
the word ABDICTION is made firstly+2, then +3, +4, +5, + 6 and so on. The code will finally
become DFIOJBNYY.
Example No. 12: If PERSON = THTWRP, then ENGINE = ?

Sol: Here P + 4 = T, E + 3 = H, R + 2 = T, Then S + 4 =W, O + 3 = R, N + 2 = R. The method

for coding is +4, +3, +2. The code forENGINE will become E + 4 = I, N + 3 = Q, G + 2 = I, I + 4
= M, N + 3= Q and E +2 = G. Therefore the code is IQIMQG.

Example No. 13: If SILVER = HROEVI, then MEENAKSHI = ?

Sol : In this case, if the letter is at „nth‟ position from the beginning then the letter at „nth‟
position from the end is written. This can always be checked, whenever the sum of the number
and its respective code is 27. Then the method applied for the coding would be this only. As in
SILVER, S is 19 and its code H is 8 and the sum is 27. I is 9 and its code R is 18 and sum is 27.
While coding MEENAKSHI, the same method coding will be applied. M is 13, so what should
be added in 13 to make it 27 ( that is14), write the 14th letter which is N as the code for M.
Similarly E is 5, find 22nd letter to make sum as 27 ( V is 22ndletter) and that is the code and so
on. The code for the word MEENAKSHI will be NVVMZPSR.

Example No. 14: If A = E, B = F, C = G and H = L, how will the word COME BACK be coded
in this code?

Sol : Here in this case, it can be checked that 4thletter has been made the code for every letter, in
the same way, you can the 4thletter as the code for every letter i.e. COME BACK would become
as C + 4 = G, O will be S and the code would become – GSQI FEGO.

Example No. 15: The questions given below are based upon the following set of codes.

Digit : 1 0 6 4 2 9 8 7 5

Code : M O X L S T N H P

A) Find the code for 24750.

1.SLPHO 2. SHLPO 3. SLOPH 4. SLHPO

B)Find the code for 814005

1.NMLOOH 2.NMLPPO 3. NMLOOP 4.NLMOOP

Now here in this case, it can be verified that the code for the 2 is S, 4 is L, 7 is H, 5 is P and 0 is
O.Therefore the code in the first case would become SLHPO and in the second case the code
would be NMLOOP.

Example No. 16: In a certain code. „sim ma kom‟ means „bring me water‟. „ma mo mok‟ means
„water is life‟. „jka od sim‟ means „give me toy‟ and „mo min not‟ means „life and death‟. Which
of the following is representing „is‟ in that language?

1.mo 2. ma 3.mok 4. min

Sol: Here in such questions by combining two groups, the code for one particular word can be
decided.

In the first two coded sentences, the only code common is „ma‟ and the only word common is
„water‟. This implies that „ma‟ is the code for „water‟. Similarly in the second and fourth coded
sentences the only code common is „mo‟ and the only word common is „life‟. This implies that
the code for the word „life‟ is „ma‟.After this in the second coded sentence the only code
remaining is „mok‟ and the only word remaining is „is‟, So the code for the word „is‟ is „mok‟.

Example No. 17 : In a certain code, „952‟ means „order my tape‟ „849‟ means „buy great tape‟
and „246‟means „buy my water‟. Which of the following digits represents „great‟ in that code?

1.2 2. 6 3.8 4. 5

Sol: Here by comparing sentence 1 and 2 get the code for the word „tape‟ which is 9. By
comparing second and third sentence get the code for the word „buy‟, which is 4. So the
remaining word in the second sentence is „great‟ and the remaining code is 8. So the answer is 8
which is the third option.
Sometimes the coding is done in groups, i.e. only if the complete block can be decoded only then
the questions can be answered. Look at the following example.

Example No. 18:

i. What is the code for G?

ii. What is the code for H?

iii. What is the code for S?

iv. What is the code for R?

Sol: In such cases, to every particular letter, the code assigned is the same. By combining two or
three words, the code for 1 or 2letters can be decided. It will be solved like, in the word
„HELLO‟, there are two L‟s and in the code there are two D‟s. So the code for letter L is D. In
the word GEORGE, there are two G‟s and two E‟s & in the code there are two F‟s and Y‟s so
either of F and Y is the code for G. After this, take the word GUMS, in which there is G but not
Y and code out of F and Y is only F. So F is the code for G. Similarly by comparing RAGS and
HERO the code for R is O can be decided, because the only letter common is R and the only
code common is O. Now when you have got the code for G, you can take the words GUMS and
RAGS, in which besides G, S is also common and the second code common (besides F) is N.So
N is the code for S and so on, the code for all the letters needed can be found out.