In a certain code language, ‘chest shirt coal’ is coded as 'ym aw xu' and ‘coal lake pig’ is coded as ‘aw yh ky’. How is ‘coal’ c…

Question

In a certain code language, ‘chest shirt coal’ is coded as 'ym aw xu' and ‘coal lake pig’ is coded as ‘aw yh ky’. How is ‘coal’ coded in the given language?

1. A. ym
2. B. aw (Correct answer)
3. C. yh
4. D. xu

Correct Answer

Option B — aw

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is aw.

Key Points

• Compare the two statements for the word and the code they share:
  • *chest shirt coal* → ym aw xu
  • *coal lake pig* → aw yh ky
• The only common word is coal, and the only common code is aw.
• Therefore coal = aw.

Additional Information

• This is the standard message-coding technique: codes are given in scrambled order, so position tells you nothing — only the intersection of the two sets does.
• The method extends directly. A third statement sharing a different single word with one of these would pin that word down the same way, and repeating the process decodes the whole vocabulary.
• Where two statements share two words, the intersection gives two codes but cannot say which belongs to which — a third statement is then needed to separate them.
• The distractors are drawn from the other codes in each statement, so guessing by position rather than by intersection lands on one of them.