SERIES

Now before we proceed to discuss the various types of questions related to alphabetical series, we will talk of
some basic facts which are essential to an understanding of these types of questions,

I. The Alphabet : The normal English alphabet contains 26 letters in all, as shown below

                             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

(Usually, questions on alphabet are accompanied by this normal alphabet). From A to M, the alphabet
completes its first half, while the other half starts from N and ends at Z.

A – M  ⇒1 – 13 (First Alphabetical Half)
N – Z  ⇒14 – 26 (Second Alphabetical Half)

II. EJOTY: For purpose of convenience, it is helpful to remember this simple formula called EJOTY, with
the help of which you can easily find the position of any letter without much effort. But for practical purposes,
you should learn by heart the positions of different letters in the alphabet.

E - 5
J - 10
O- 15
T- 20
Y- 25

Now, for instance, we wish to find the position of, say, the 17 th letter from the left side. You already know that
the 15 th letter from the left side is O, therefore, the only thing you have to do is to find a letter which is two
positions ahead of O, which is Q (The Answer). Using this simple formula, you can quickly find the position
of any letter from the left side without much brain-rattling. Remembering the positions of different alphabets
is basic to solving any question on alphabetical series, so examinees must remember their positions. One of
the best ways to achieve it is to practice EJOTY. Simply write down the full names of any 200 people you can
imagine and do like follows:
For example, let’s say the name of the person imagined is ZUBINA. Now from EJOTY, we know that Z
stands for 26, U stands for 22, B stands for 2, I stands for 9, N stands for 14 and A stands for 1. Now add up
all these positions (26+22+29+14+1). What you get on addition does not have any significance, but it can be a
very good way to try to make out and remember the individual positions of all the letters in the alphabet.

III. Finding Positions: Much more commonly, you get questions in the tests, which provide you alphabetical
positions from the right side. Since we are used to counting from the left side i.e. A, B, C... and not Z, Y,
X..., the formula we discussed earlier will be applicable with a bit of modification. But before we proceed to
discuss it, it is essential to remember one simple mathematical fact.

Let’s say there is a row of 7 boys in which a boy is standing 3 rd from left. We want to know his position from
the right side.
                        I        I        I       I       I       I       I
                    1 st  2 nd  3 rd  4 th  5 th  6 th  7 th
You can see for yourself that the boy who was 3 rd from the left is placed 5 th from the right side.

The sum of both the positions is 8 (3 + 5), while the total number of boys is 7. This happens because we are
counting a single boy twice in the calculation process. If we had subtracted 3 from 7 (as some of us might do),
we would have got 4, which is obviously not the correct position from the right side. An important conclusion
emerges from this discussion. If we are dealing with an alphabet and we have been given the position of any
letter from either side, we will add 1 to the total no. of letters and then subtract position from one side to get
its position from the other side. For example, let’s find the position from the right of a letter, which is the 9 th
from the left side.

IV. Reversing: Many questions concerning reversing of alphabets are a part of reasoning tests.

 CODING

Almost every test on reasoning contains questions on coding. In such a question, generally one word and its
code is given and the students are asked to find the code for the other given word, applying the same logic, as
what has been applied in the given examples.

But before we proceed to discuss the various types of questions related to coding, it is better to have an idea
regarding the general types in coding. Some of the major types of coding are:

1. Constant addition in the position of alphabets.

2. Constant subtraction in the position of alphabets.

3. Denoting the position of alphabets in the whole alphabetic order.

4. Addition of the positions of all the alphabets to make code for the word.

5. Constant addition and subtraction respectively in the position of all the alphabets.

6. Square of the number of letters in the word.

7. Arranging the letters in the alphabetic order.

8. Arranging the letters given in the main word, in the reverse order.

9. Interchanging each pair of the letters, in the whole word.

10. Constant addition and then reversing the letters to make the final code.

These are some of the important types of the coding, now we will discuss all of these types of coding and
much more with the help of examples.
You must have notices from the above points, that it is very important for the student to know the alphabetic
order of all the alphabets.

The following method can be applied to learn the alphabetic order.

I. The Alphabet : The normal English alphabet contains 26 letters in all, as shown above
(Usually, questions on alphabet are accompanied by this normal alphabet). From A to M, the alphabet
completes its first half, while the other half starts from N and ends at Z.

A-M - 1-13 (First Alphabetical Half )
N-Z –14-26 (Second Alphabetical Half)

II. EJOTY : For purpose of convenience, it is helpful to remember this simple formula called EJOTY, with
the help of which you can easily find the position of any letter without much effort. But for practical
purposes, you should learn by heart the positions of different letters in the alphabet, where these five letters
represent the following positions.

                                                                      E    J     O    T    Y
                                                                      5   10   15   20  25

Solved Examples:

Example No. 1 : In a certain code ‘CSAT’ is written as EUCV. How is ‘CIVIL’ written in that code?
Sol : In this all the letters in the word are moved two places forward.
So CIVIL will be written as EKXKN.

Example No. 2 : If the word AMITABH is coded as HBATIMA, then how will you code the word
ANUPAM ?
Sol : In this the whole of the word is written in the reverse order only, then the word ANUPAM would also be
written in the reverse order and MAPUNA would be obtained as answer.

Example No. 3 : If HEMA ⇒ EHAM, Then REKHA = ?
Sol : In this the pairs of letters are interchanged, similarly the pairs in the word REKHA would be
interchanged. And ERHKA, because A is the single letter remains, and it would be written as it is.

Example No. 4 : In a certain code ‘SERVICES’ is written as TFSWHBDR. How is BULLSEYE written in
that code?
Sol : In this first half of the letters are moved one place forward and second half of the letters are moved one
place backward. So, BULLSEYE will be written as CVMMRDXD.

Example No. 5 : If the word RAMESH is written as 181135198, how will you write the word SUNITA ?
Sol : Now in this case, simply the position of the alphabet is written i.e. R = 18, A = 1, M = 13 and so on.
Similarly while making code for the word SUNITA, their alphabetic positions will be written i.e. S = 19, U =
21, N = 14, I = 9 and the code will become as 192114920.