Arrange the following animals in a meaningful sequence of size, starting from the smallest animal and going up to the largest one: 1. Elephant 2. Cat 3. Mosquito 4. Tiger 5. Whale. Which of the following sequences correctly represents the order from smallest to largest?

Introduction / Context:
This verbal reasoning question tests the ability to arrange given items in a logical and meaningful order. In this case, the items are animals of very different sizes, and the task is to understand their relative sizes in the real world and then place them in a sequence from the smallest animal to the largest animal.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• We are given five animals with numbers attached: 1. Elephant, 2. Cat, 3. Mosquito, 4. Tiger, 5. Whale.
• The required order is from the smallest animal in size to the largest animal in size.
• No trick is involved with alphabetical order or food chain; the focus is purely on physical size.
• General world knowledge about approximate sizes of these animals is assumed.

Concept / Approach:
The main idea is to use common knowledge about animal sizes. A mosquito is far smaller than any of the mammals listed. A cat is much smaller than a tiger or an elephant. A tiger is a large wild cat, bigger than a domestic cat but still smaller than an elephant. Finally, among the listed animals, a whale is the largest. The correct sequence must respect this increasing order of physical size from very tiny to extremely large.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the smallest animal. Clearly, a mosquito is the smallest, so number 3 comes first.Step 2: Next, compare a cat, tiger, elephant, and whale. Among these, a domestic cat is the smallest, so number 2 comes after 3.Step 3: Between tiger, elephant, and whale, the tiger is smaller than the elephant, and the whale is larger than the elephant. So the order continues with tiger as number 4.Step 4: After the tiger, the elephant is larger, so number 1 follows in the sequence.Step 5: The whale is the largest animal among the list, so number 5 must come last.Step 6: Putting all of these together, the increasing order of size is 3, 2, 4, 1, 5.

Verification / Alternative check:
An easy check is to quickly read the final sequence verbally: mosquito, cat, tiger, elephant, whale. This flows naturally from a tiny insect to a small pet, then a larger wild animal, then a very large land animal, and finally a giant sea creature. There is no other sensible way to arrange these animals in strictly increasing size that would remain consistent with basic real world knowledge.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A (5, 3, 1, 2, 4) starts with a whale, which is the largest, not the smallest. Option C (1, 3, 5, 4, 2) starts with an elephant and places a mosquito later, which breaks the smallest to largest requirement. Option D (2, 5, 1, 4, 3) incorrectly places a whale near the beginning and a mosquito at the end, which is completely opposite of reality. Therefore, these sequences do not reflect increasing size.

Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes misread the instruction and accidentally arrange from largest to smallest or think of factors like strength or danger instead of physical size. Another common mistake is to treat the order as arbitrary or to be influenced by the original numbering of the options instead of reasoning from real knowledge. It is important to carefully note that the question clearly specifies smallest to largest size as the criterion.

Final Answer:
The only sequence that correctly represents the order from the smallest animal to the largest animal is 3, 2, 4, 1, 5, which corresponds to mosquito, cat, tiger, elephant, and whale in increasing order of size.