The question below is followed by two statements numbered I and II. Decide whether the data given in the statements are sufficient to answer the question.
In a certain code language, each word is always written with the same code word, different words have different code words, and the code words need not be in the same order as the words. What is the code for ‘rain’?
I. ‘pik tor lem’ means ‘heavy rain today’, and ‘tor mi’ means ‘today only’.
II. ‘lem zu’ means ‘rain stops’.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Both statements I and II together are needed.
A word that appears in two sentences takes the code word common to both codes.
Statement I alone:
‘today’ is common to both sentences and ‘tor’ to both codes, so today = tor
‘heavy’ and ‘rain’ share ‘pik’ and ‘lem’, so ‘rain’ is pik or lem: not sufficient
Statement II alone:
‘rain’ is lem or zu: not sufficient
Both together:
‘rain’ appears in ‘heavy rain today’ and in ‘rain stops’
The only code word common to ‘pik tor lem’ and ‘lem zu’ is ‘lem’, so rain = lem: sufficient together