If ‘A’ stands for ‘÷’, ‘B’ stands for ‘×’, ‘C’ stands for ‘+’ and ‘D’ stands…
2026
If ‘A’ stands for ‘÷’, ‘B’ stands for ‘×’, ‘C’ stands for ‘+’ and ‘D’ stands for ‘−’, what will come in place of the question mark ‘?’ in the following equation?
143 C 208 A 13 B 4 D 125 = ?
Answer: C. 82 — In a symbol-substitution problem each letter is only a disguise for an arithmetic operator. Replacing the letters changes the symbols that appear in the line,…
- A.
84
- B.
87
- C.
82
- D.
89
Attempted by 44 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
In a symbol-substitution problem each letter is only a disguise for an arithmetic operator. Replacing the letters changes the symbols that appear in the line, but it never changes the order in which the operations are carried out. The rewritten expression is still evaluated by the BODMAS rule: brackets first, then orders (powers and roots), then division and multiplication taken together from left to right, and finally addition and subtraction taken together from left to right.
Here the code given is A = ÷, B = ×, C = + and D = −. Substituting these into 143 C 208 A 13 B 4 D 125 turns the line into 143 + 208 ÷ 13 × 4 − 125.
Deal with division and multiplication before addition and subtraction, working through them from left to right. The leftmost of the two is the division: 208 ÷ 13 = 16.
Move right to the multiplication, using the 16 just obtained: 16 × 4 = 64. The line now reads 143 + 64 − 125.
Only now take up addition and subtraction, again from left to right: 143 + 64 = 207.
Complete the subtraction: 207 − 125 = 82.
Cross-check by regrouping the additive terms: 143 − 125 = 18, and 18 + 64 = 82, the same value. It is worth seeing what the precedence rule is doing here. Sweeping through the same line blindly from left to right would give 143 + 208 = 351, then 351 ÷ 13 = 27, then 27 × 4 = 108, then 108 − 125 = −17, a completely different number. Applying BODMAS to the substituted line is what fixes the value at 82.