Coding-Decoding Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Correct answer: DBUSILEHP

Reverse the word, then exchange the second and third letters with the seventh and eighth. NUMERICAL reversed is LACIREMUN; swapping AC with MU gives LMUIREACN. PUBLISHED reversed is DEHSILBUP; swapping EH with BU gives DBUSILEHP. Both example and answer use exactly the same rearrangement, which is how the rule can be confirmed.

Answer: C

Correct answer: EKVPCTH

Reverse the word, then advance every letter by two. DISTURB reversed is BRUTSID, and adding two to each gives DTWVUKF. FRANTIC reversed is CITNARF, and adding two gives C→E, I→K, T→V, N→P, A→C, R→T, F→H, that is EKVPCTH.

Answer: C

MADE is written as ∗ ÷ × %.

Each letter has its own symbol, in order. From GAME = $ ÷ ∗ %: G = $, A = ÷, M = ∗, E = %. From BEAD = # % ÷ ×: B = #, E = %, A = ÷, D = ×.

So M A D E = ∗ ÷ × %. The first option starts with the code for G, the second puts $ (G) in place of D, and the last starts with # (B).

Answer: A

VIGOROUS is written as 22187121812619.

Consonants are coded by their position in the alphabet, and vowels by their position counted from Z (27 minus the position). GREAT: G = 7, R = 18, E = 27 - 5 = 22, A = 27 - 1 = 26, T = 20, giving 718222620. MONK: M = 13, O = 27 - 15 = 12, N = 14, K = 11.

VIGOROUS: V = 22, I = 27 - 9 = 18, G = 7, O = 12, R = 18, O = 12, U = 27 - 21 = 6, S = 19, giving 22 18 7 12 18 12 6 19 = 22187121812619. The other options miscode the vowels.

Answer: B

DISTANCE is coded as STHEDDMB.

Split CALENDER into halves, CALE and NDER, and reverse each: ELAC and REDN. Then shift the letters alternately back one and forward one: E-1 = D, L+1 = M, A-1 = Z, C+1 = D gives DMZD; R-1 = Q, E+1 = F, D-1 = C, N+1 = O gives QFCO. Together: DMZDQFCO.

For DISTANCE: halves DIST and ANCE reversed are TSID and ECNA. T-1 = S, S+1 = T, I-1 = H, D+1 = E gives STHE; E-1 = D, C+1 = D, N-1 = M, A+1 = B gives DDMB. So the code is STHEDDMB; the other options each have at least one wrong letter.

Answer: C

COLD DARK WINTER is written as nee zee dee.

Compare the coded sentences. 'COLD' appears in the first two, and 'nee' is their common code word, so COLD = nee. 'IS' appears in the first and third, with common code 'pee', so IS = pee. 'COFFEE' appears in the second and third, with common code 'ree', so COFFEE = ree.

Then in the first sentence WINTER = dee (the word left after nee and pee), and in the third DARK = zee. So COLD DARK WINTER = nee zee dee. 'nee dee pee' is WINTER IS COLD, and the options with ree or pee include COFFEE or IS.

Answer: C

EAGLESTONE is coded FMHBFFOPUT. In ABACTERIAL the letters are first moved one step forward in the alphabet (A to B, B to C and so on). The word is then cut into two halves of five letters and each half is written backwards. ABACT becomes BCBDU, reversed UDBCB, and ERIAL becomes FSJBM, reversed MBJSF, giving UDBCBMBJSF. PACEMAKERS follows the same rule. EAGLE becomes FBHMF, reversed FMHBF. STONE becomes TUPOF, reversed FOPUT. Joined, the code is FMHBFFOPUT. The other options place the letters of a half in a wrong order.

Answer: A

ECONOMIC is coded NMDBHBNL. The rule works on blocks of four letters. Each letter is moved one step back in the alphabet, then the two halves of each block of four are swapped. In EARNINGS, EARN becomes DZQM, and swapping halves gives QMDZ. INGS becomes HMFR, and swapping gives FRHM, which is the given code QMDZFRHM. EDUCATED checks out the same way: TBDC and DCZS. For ECONOMIC the blocks ECON and OMIC become DBNM and NLHB. Swapping the halves gives NMDB and HBNL, so the code is NMDBHBNL. The other options differ in the order of letters inside a block.

Answer: A

MONSOON is written as MONNOOS. In SUNSHINE the first three letters SUN stay as they are and the rest, SHINE, is written backwards as ENIHS, which gives SUNENIHS. Doing the same with MONSOON: the first three letters MON stay and the remaining four letters SOON are reversed to NOOS, which gives MONNOOS. MONSOON would be the word unchanged, SOONMON would move the block of four to the front, and MONSONO reverses only the last three letters, none of which follows the pattern shown by SUNSHINE.

Answer: C

COLA is coded as DPMB. In COKE to DPLF each letter moves one place forward in the alphabet: C to D, O to P, K to L and E to F. Applying the same rule to COLA gives C to D, O to P, L to M and A to B, so the code is DPMB. BMPD moves each letter one place backward instead. DPBM keeps the right first two letters but swaps the last two, and BMDP reverses the order of the answer pairs, so neither follows the rule.

As a check, the same one-place shift applied to the other letters of the given word, K to L and E to F, reproduces DPLF, so the rule is a uniform forward shift of one for every letter.