Mathematics: Tips for Solving Blood Relations Problems in Competitive Exams

Tips for Solving Blood Relations Problems

Blood relation test depends upon the knowledge of candidates towards the relations.

• Read the data quickly to get a "feel" of the question.
• Use special symbols for different relation while drawing family tree. Put a + sign before male and - sign before female. Use = sign to represent brother or sister relationships and <=> sign to represent marriages.
• Start with the last information and process backwords. For example, if it is given that her mother's son is the only son of my mother fathers, then we proceed with the last information; only son of my mother;s fathers.
• It is advisable to begin with a sentence that gives information about parent-child relation ship in complex questions.

(Husband) (The relationship of husband and wife)

                         + A <=> B - (wife)

                             ↓              ↓

        (Daughter) - C   =   D +  (Son)

(The relationship of brother and sister)

Blood Relation Chart

Chart of Relations
1	The father of father	Grandfather
2	The mother of father	Grandmother
3	The brother of father	Uncle
4	The sister of father	Aunt
5	The son and daughter of sister	Nephew/Niece
6	Uncle’s children	Cousin
7	Mother or father’s son	Brother
8	Mother’s father’s daughter	Sister
9	Mother’s brother	Maternal uncle
10	Mother’s sister	Aunt
11	Mother’s mother	Grandmother
12	Maternal Uncle’ children	Cousin
13	Mother’s father	Grandfather
14	Son’s wife	Daughter-in-law
15	Daughter’s husband	Son-in-law
16	Husband’s brother	Brother-in-law
17	Wife’s brother	Brother-in-law
18	Husband’s sister	Sister-in-law
19	Wife’s sister	Sister-in-law
20	Brother’s daughter	Niece
21	Brother’s son	Nephew
22	Sister’s husband	Brother-in-law
23	Brother’s wife	Sister-in-law

Sample Problems:

1) What will be the daughter of the woman who is the mother of the husband of my mother to me ?

(A) Granddaughter   (B) Mother  (C) Aunt   (D) Daughter

Solution: The husband of my mother will be my father; his mother will be my grandmother; her daughter will be my aunt. 

Hence Solution is Aunt

2) A women sees the photograph of a man and says. "This man's sister is my mother-in-law." How is the woman's husband related to the man in the photograph ?

Solution: The man's sister is the woman's mother-in-law; therefore the man in the photograph is the brother of the woman's husband's mother 

Hence Solution is Uncle.

3) Pointing to a man in photograph, a woman said, "His mother's son is my father." Then, how is the woman related to that man ?

(A) Daughter   (B) Niece    (C) Uncle         (D) Data Inadequate

Solution: "His mother's son" means either the person himself or his brother. So, the woman is either daughter or niece of the man in the photograph.

Hence, Solution is Inadequate.