In a certain code language, ‘A ÷ B’ means ‘A is the sister of B’, ‘A # B’…

Concept

In a coded blood-relation puzzle, each symbol stands for one specific relation between the person named just before it and the person named just after it. Read the coded string from left to right, decode each symbol into a person-to-person relation, build up the family connections it describes, and then trace the path between the two people the question asks about.

Application

Decode ‘A % B # G ÷ H + K’ one symbol at a time:

1. A % B: A is the father of B.

2. B # G: B is the brother of G, so B and G are siblings.

3. G ÷ H: G is the sister of H, so G and H are siblings as well, making B, G and H siblings of one another.

4. H + K: H is the wife of K.

Since A is the father of B, and G and H are siblings of B, A is the father of G and H too. So A is the father of H, and H is the wife of K.

Cross-check

Tracing the family line independently confirms this: A is the parent of the sibling set {B, G, H}; H, one of A's children, is married to K. Following the marriage link from A through H to K gives the relation of A to K as the father of K's wife.

So A is related to K as the wife's father.