In a coded writing, “come at once father very ill” is written as “XLNV ZG LMXV…
2023
In a coded writing, “come at once father very ill” is written as “XLNV ZG LMXV UZGSVI EVIB ROO”. What is the corresponding code for “mother”?
Answer: C. NLGSVI — Concept: This is a mirror-substitution code: each letter of the alphabet is replaced by the letter that sits the same distance from the other end — A↔Z, B↔Y,…
- A.
NOGSVI
- B.
NOTSVI
- C.
NLGSVI
- D.
NLGSTI
Attempted by 3 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: This is a mirror-substitution code: each letter of the alphabet is replaced by the letter that sits the same distance from the other end — A↔Z, B↔Y, C↔X, and so on, meeting at M↔N. Once one word fixes a letter's code, that same code must hold for every other word in the same coded language.
From come = XLNV: c→X, o→L, m→N, e→V.
From father = UZGSVI: f→U, a→Z, t→G, h→S, e→V (confirming e→V again), r→I.
The letters needed for mother (m, o, t, h, e, r) therefore map to N, L, G, S, V, I respectively.
Writing these in order gives the code NLGSVI.
Cross-check: The words at = ZG and very = EVIB independently confirm t→G, e→V, and r→I, matching the mapping above. Decoding NLGSVI back through the same rule — N→m, L→o, G→t, S→h, V→e, I→r — returns mother exactly, confirming the code is self-consistent.
Answer: Hence, the code for mother is NLGSVI.