In a coded language if ANIMAL is written as LAIMNA, then CIRCLE will be…

Concept

In a positional letter-rearrangement (coding-decoding) cipher, the letters of a word are not replaced — they are moved to new fixed positions according to a single permutation rule. To decode, you must find the exact slot-to-slot mapping that turns the given word into its given code, and then apply the identical mapping to the target word. A rule is only valid if it reproduces the given example exactly.

Application

Number the six positions 1 to 6. Compare the example ANIMAL (A-N-I-M-A-L) with its code LAIMNA (L-A-I-M-N-A) position by position:

1. Position 1 and position 6 are interchanged: the last letter L comes to the front, the first letter A goes to the end.

2. Position 2 and position 5 are interchanged: the 5th letter A comes to slot 2, the 2nd letter N goes to slot 5.

3. Positions 3 and 4 stay where they are: I and M do not move.

So the rule is: swap the 1st and 6th letters, swap the 2nd and 5th letters, and keep the 3rd and 4th letters fixed. Check on the example — ANIMAL with positions (1 6) and (2 5) swapped gives L, A, I, M, N, A = LAIMNA, which matches the given code exactly.

Now apply the same rule to CIRCLE = C(1) I(2) R(3) C(4) L(5) E(6):

1. Swap positions 1 and 6: E takes slot 1, C takes slot 6.

2. Swap positions 2 and 5: L takes slot 2, I takes slot 5.

3. Keep positions 3 and 4: R and C stay.

Reading the slots in order gives E, L, R, C, I, C = ELRCIC.

Cross-check

Apply the inverse to ELRCIC to recover the original: undoing the (1 6) and (2 5) swaps returns C, I, R, C, L, E = CIRCLE, confirming the code. Note that simply reversing the whole word would give ELCRIC, but reversing ANIMAL gives LAMINA — not the given LAIMNA — so plain reversal is the wrong rule. The correct coded form of CIRCLE is ELRCIC.