Each of the following questions consists of five figures marked A, B, C, D and…
2024
Each of the following questions consists of five figures marked A, B, C, D and E called the Problem Figures, followed by five other figures marked 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 called the Answer Figures. Select the figure from among the Answer Figures that will continue the same series established by the five Problem Figures.
- A.
1
- B.
2
- C.
3
- D.
4
- E.
5
Attempted by 23 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: In this kind of figure series, each figure is built from five symbols placed along a diagonal. Between one figure and the next, four of the five symbols survive by moving to new fixed diagonal slots according to a single repeating shift rule, the symbol in one particular slot always drops out of the series, and a symbol that has never appeared anywhere earlier in the series is inserted into one particular slot. Once this shift-and-replace rule is fixed from the given figures, applying it once more to the last figure predicts the next figure.
Application to this series:
Number the five diagonal slots of every figure 1 (top-left) to 5 (bottom-right) and record which symbol sits in each slot for Problem Figures A to E.
Following one symbol at a time (for example the five-pointed star) across the figures shows it moves slot 2 -> slot 5 -> slot 4 -> slot 1 -> slot 3, which reveals the shift rule: slot 1 -> slot 3, slot 2 -> slot 5, slot 4 -> slot 1, and slot 5 -> slot 4.
Whatever symbol sits in slot 3 of a figure does not carry forward at all -- it exits the series in the next figure.
Every next figure also inserts one brand-new symbol, never used in any earlier figure, into slot 2.
This rule reproduces Figure C from Figure B, Figure D from Figure C, and Figure E from Figure D exactly, confirming it is the governing rule and not a one-off fit.
Applying the same rule to Figure E (slot1 = square, slot2 = the letter, slot3 = star, slot4 = triangle, slot5 = plus): the triangle in slot 4 moves to slot 1, the plus in slot 5 moves to slot 4, the square in slot 1 moves to slot 3, the letter in slot 2 moves to slot 5, the star in slot 3 exits, and a fresh, never-before-used symbol (an upward arrow) enters slot 2.
Cross-check: Re-running the very same shift on Problem Figure D (slot1 = star, slot2 = plus, slot3 = equals-sign, slot4 = square, slot5 = downward triangle) reproduces Problem Figure E exactly (square, a new letter, star, triangle, plus) -- the same rule that explains every earlier step also fixes the next figure, so the derivation is self-consistent.
Result: the predicted next figure -- triangle, a new upward-arrow symbol, square, plus, letter -- matches Answer Figure 3 exactly, so option value 3 is correct.