In a certain code language, 'GOAL' is coded as '917314', and 'PBKS' is coded as '1841321'. How will 'HAMD' be coded in that language?

Question

Prepp Team · Accepted Answer

Solving Letter Coding Reasoning Problems

This question asks us to decipher a code language based on given examples and then apply the pattern to a new word. We are given the codes for 'GOAL' and 'PBKS' and need to find the code for 'HAMD'.

Let's analyze the relationship between the letters in the words and the numbers in their respective codes.

Analyzing the Coding Pattern

The given codes are:

'GOAL' is coded as '917314'
'PBKS' is coded as '1841321'

Let's consider the alphabetical position of each letter:

A=1, B=2, C=3, ..., Z=26

Let's look at 'GOAL':

G is the 7th letter.
O is the 15th letter.
A is the 1st letter.
L is the 12th letter.

The code is '917314'. If we separate the numbers, we get 9, 17, 3, 14. Let's compare these to the alphabetical positions:

Letter	Alphabetical Position	Code Segment
G	7	9
O	15	17
A	1	3
L	12	14

Observing the numbers, it appears that each code segment is the alphabetical position plus 2:

7 + 2 = 9
15 + 2 = 17
1 + 2 = 3
12 + 2 = 14

Concatenating these results (9, 17, 3, 14) gives '917314', which matches the code for 'GOAL'.

Let's verify this pattern with the second example, 'PBKS'.

P is the 16th letter.
B is the 2nd letter.
K is the 11th letter.
S is the 19th letter.

Applying the same pattern (alphabetical position + 2):

Letter	Alphabetical Position	Position + 2
P	16	16 + 2 = 18
B	2	2 + 2 = 4
K	11	11 + 2 = 13
S	19	19 + 2 = 21

Concatenating these results (18, 4, 13, 21) gives '1841321', which matches the code for 'PBKS'.

The pattern is consistently adding 2 to the alphabetical position of each letter and concatenating the results to form the code.

Coding the word 'HAMD'

Now, let's apply this coding pattern to the word 'HAMD'.

H is the 8th letter.
A is the 1st letter.
M is the 13th letter.
D is the 4th letter.

Applying the pattern (alphabetical position + 2):

Letter	Alphabetical Position	Position + 2
H	8	8 + 2 = 10
A	1	1 + 2 = 3
M	13	13 + 2 = 15
D	4	4 + 2 = 6

Concatenating the results (10, 3, 15, 6) gives '103156'.

Therefore, 'HAMD' is coded as '103156' in this language.

Conclusion

The coding rule is to add 2 to the alphabetical position of each letter and concatenate the resulting numbers. Applying this rule to 'HAMD' gives the code 103156.

Revision Table: Coding Decoding Pattern

Word	Letters	Alphabetical Position	Position + 2	Concatenated Code
GOAL	G	7	9	\texttt{917314}
	O	15	17
	A	1	3
	L	12	14
PBKS	P	16	18	\texttt{1841321}
	B	2	4
	K	11	13
	S	19	21
HAMD	H	8	10	\texttt{103156}
	A	1	3
	M	13	15
	D	4	6

Additional Information on Coding Decoding

Coding-decoding questions are common in reasoning sections of various exams. They test your ability to identify patterns and apply rules. Common patterns include:

Letter Shifting: Each letter is shifted a fixed number of positions forward or backward in the alphabet (e.g., A becomes C, B becomes D).
Alphabetical Position: Using the numerical position of letters (A=1, Z=26) directly or with a simple mathematical operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, squaring, etc.).
Opposite Letters: Using the letter that is equidistant from the end of the alphabet as the original letter is from the beginning (A's opposite is Z, B's is Y, etc.).
Vowel/Consonant Rules: Different rules might apply to vowels and consonants.
Jumbled Letters/Numbers: The code might involve rearranging the letters or numbers based on a rule.
Combination of Rules: The code might combine several patterns.

To solve these problems, it's helpful to write down the alphabet and its positions, carefully observe the given examples, and try different potential patterns.