Sequence and Ordering

What are Counting puzzles?

In Counting puzzles we are just supposed to count.

The most common types of counting puzzles are:

• Sequence and Ordering

• Position Puzzles

In this article, we will cover the sub-topic of Sequence and Ordering.

What is Sequence and Ordering?

Alphabet and Number based Sequence and Ordering Tests are based on arrangement of English letters/numbers in a certain defined pattern.

Types of Sequence and Ordering questions

Alphabet Test

In this type, the questions asked are based on finding the place of an English letter in alphabet.

Q. Find the 11th letter to the left of 20th letter from left in the English alphabet.

(a) J         (b) I          (c) K          (d) H

Explanations :
1 2

Explanation 1:

Hence, 11th letter to the left of 20th letter from left is I.

Answer: (b)

Q. How many letters are there between 8th letter from left and 7th letter from right in the English alphabet?

(a) 11         (b) 8          (c) 9          (d) 12

Explanations :
1 2

Explanation 1:

There are 11 letters between 8th letter from left and 7th letter from right.

Answer: (a)

Rearrangement Test

Herein a specified order or pattern is used to rearrange the positions of digits of number or letters of a alphabet and questions are framed on it.

Q. If 1st half of the English alphabet is written in backward order, then what will be the 7th letter to the left of the 10th letter from your right?

(a) E         (b) C          (c) F          (d) D

Explanations :
1 2

Explanation 1:

The 7th letter to the left of 10th letter from right is D.

Answer: (d)

Sequence Test

Sequence test is based on a sequence of letters, numbers and symbols.

Let us acquaint ourselves with the various types of questions asked.

Q. How many 7’s immediately preceded by 6 but not immediately followed by 4 are there in the following series?

7 4 2 7 6 4 3 6 7 5 3 5 7 8 4 3 7 6 7 2 4 0 6 7 4 3

(a) one         (b) two          (c) three          (d) four

Explanation:

There are two such 7s.

To avoid mistakes we may consider one statement at a time while solving.

Answer: (b)

Order of words according to Dictionary

In such type of questions, the candidate is required to choose that option from the given alternatives, which is having the correct sequential order of words according to the English dictionary.

Q. Arrange the following words as per order in the English dictionary :

1. Caricature
2. Cardinal
3. Carnivore
4. Cartoon
5. Category

(a) 4, 5, 1, 3, 2  (b) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5  (c) 2, 1, 3, 4, 5  (d) 2, 1, 3, 5, 4

(SSC Question)

Explanation:

Finding Letter Pairs

If between any two letters of a word, there exist same number of letters as in the English alphabet, then these two letters are called a letter pair.

In this type of questions, a word is given and we are asked to find the different letter pairs the word has.

Keep in mind these points, while attempting these questions:

• A word may have more than one letter pairs.
• A letter in a word can make more than one letter pairs.
• If you are just asked to find letter pairs, according to the English alphabet, you have to count both ways, i.e. from left to right and right to left (or both forward and backward order).
• If you are asked to find letter pairs, according to the sequence of English alphabet (i.e. order of letters is important), then you have to count only from left to right (or only forward order).

Steps

• Write the alphabetic positions of the letters.

• Start from the leftmost letter and compare it with the rest of the letters.

• Then compare the 2nd letter to all the letters on its right and so on.

Q. How many such pairs of letters are there in the word ‘SOUTHERN’ each of which has as many letters between them as in the English alphabet?

(a) None  (b) One  (c) Two  (d) Three

Explanation:

So, letter pairs are SU and TU.

In the above S-U pair is in forward order and U-T pair is in backward order.

Answer: (c)