Difficulty: Medium
Correct Answer: XyXYXYXY
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This verbal reasoning question is based on a letter series pattern. The aim is to observe how the position and case of specific letters change from term to term and then determine which option logically continues the given trend. Such questions test pattern recognition, attention to detail, and the ability to track systematic movements in a sequence of characters.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Given series of terms: XYXYXYxY, XYXYXyXY, XYXYxYXY, XYXyXYXY, XYxYXYXY, ?Each term consists of the same letters: X and Y, arranged in the fixed base pattern XYXYXYXY.In every term exactly one letter is written in lowercase, either x or y.We assume the pattern is regular and continues in the same systematic way.
Concept / Approach:
The key idea is to separate the constant part of the pattern from the changing part. The constant base pattern is XYXYXYXY. The changing element is the single lowercase letter that appears in each term. By tracking which position is lowercase in each step, and whether it is x or y, we can deduce the rule. Once the rule is identified, we apply it to find the next term in the sequence.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Write the base pattern positions as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 with letters X Y X Y X Y X Y.Step 2: Observe term 1: XYXYXYxY. The lowercase letter is x at position 7.Step 3: Term 2: XYXYXyXY. The lowercase letter is y at position 6.Step 4: Term 3: XYXYxYXY. The lowercase letter is x at position 5.Step 5: Term 4: XYXyXYXY. The lowercase letter is y at position 4.Step 6: Term 5: XYxYXYXY. The lowercase letter is x at position 3.Step 7: The position of the lowercase letter is moving one step to the left each time: 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, so the next position must be 2.Step 8: At even positions the base letter is Y, so at position 2 we must have a lowercase y, giving XyXYXYXY.
Verification / Alternative check:
An additional check is to observe that the lowercase letter alternates between x and y as it moves: x (7), y (6), x (5), y (4), x (3), so the next should indeed be y at position 2. Also, all other letters remain uppercase and follow the fixed XYXYXYXY pattern. Thus XyXYXYXY perfectly fits both the positional movement and the alternation of x and y.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option XYXYXYXY has no lowercase letter at all, so it breaks the fundamental rule that exactly one letter must be lowercase.Option XYxYXYXY repeats an earlier term in the series where the lowercase x was at position 3; it does not represent the next position in the shifting pattern.Option xYXYXYXY places the lowercase x at position 1, which would come after the lowercase y at position 2, not before it, so it represents a later term, not the immediate next term.
Common Pitfalls:
A common mistake is to focus only on the letters X and Y without noticing the importance of lowercase versus uppercase. Another frequent error is to look at the total counts of X and Y rather than the specific position of the lowercase letter. Some learners also try to guess based on visual similarity instead of systematically tracking the sequence of positions (7, 6, 5, 4, 3, ...).
Final Answer:
The term that correctly follows the given letter series pattern is XyXYXYXY.
Discussion & Comments