Question

Vikas was showing a photograph to his friend and pointed to a boy and told the following statement: 'His name is Atul and his maternal grandfather's brother is my maternal grandfather's sister's son.' How is Atul related to Vikas?

• A. They are brothers
• B. Vikas is the uncle of Atul
• C. They are distant cousins
• D. None of the above

Hint:

Draw the family as generations, level by level, starting from Vikas's maternal grandfather and his sister, and see how many levels separate Vikas from Atul.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Name the people in Vikas's family line.
Call Vikas's maternal grandfather X, and call X's sister Y. Y is X's sister, so Y and X belong to the same, oldest generation in this puzzle.

Step 2: Find "Vikas's maternal grandfather's sister's son."
That phrase means Y's son, so call him Q. Q is one generation younger than X and Y, the same generation as Vikas's mother, since Vikas's mother is X's child.

Step 3: Match Q to the other side of the statement.
The statement says Atul's maternal grandfather's brother is Q. So Q is also the brother of Atul's maternal grandfather, which puts Atul's maternal grandfather in the same generation as Q, the same generation as Vikas's mother.

Step 4: Move down one generation on Atul's side.
Atul's mother is the child of Atul's maternal grandfather, so Atul's mother is one generation below Vikas's mother, the same generation as Vikas himself.

Step 5: Move down one more generation to Atul.
Atul is the child of Atul's mother, so Atul is one full generation younger than Vikas.

Step 6: State the relation.
A boy who is one generation younger than you, connected through this kind of grandparent-sibling link, is treated as your nephew, which makes you his uncle. So Vikas is the uncle of Atul.

Final Answer:
Option B, Vikas is the uncle of Atul.