Blood relations

Blood Relations – Reasoning Ability (Uttarakhand Patwari / Lekhpal)

Why it matters
In reasoning tests, blood‑relation puzzles test your ability to keep track of family ties, infer indirect relationships, and avoid logical fallacies. Mastery of this topic gives you a big advantage on the “Logic” section of many competitive exams.

1. Simple Explanation

Blood relations (also called kinship) are connections that exist by birth, not by marriage. They are usually represented by a family tree or a diagram that shows who is parent/child, sibling, nephew/niece, cousin, etc.

When solving a problem:

1. Identify all the given relationships – write them down in a list or draw a quick diagram.
2. Follow the chain of relations – e.g., “X is the brother of Y” → “Y is the father of Z” → therefore X is the uncle of Z.
3. Pay attention to gender – some terms (brother, sister, nephew, niece) are gender‑specific.
4. Use elimination – if a person can’t be A and B simultaneously, you can rule out possibilities.

2. Key Points

3. Worked Example

Problem

In a family, the following relationships are known:

1. Ramesh is the father of Sita.
2. Sita is the mother of Prakash.
3. Sita’s brother is Anil.
4. Anil is the husband of Maya.
5. Maya is the sister of Ramesh’s wife, Nisha.
6. Nisha is the mother of Nikhil.

Question: Who is Prakash’s aunt? (Show all possible answers)

Step‑by‑Step Solution

Goal: Find any person who is an aunt of Prakash (P).

1. P’s parents: Mother S.
2. S’s siblings: Only A is mentioned.
   • A is male → uncle of P.
3. S’s aunts:
   • Mother’s sisters → N (since N is sister of M, who is married to R, and N is married to R).
   • Mother’s husband's sisters → M (since M is wife of A, who is sibling of S).
   • Mother’s husband’s sisters: M is a sister of A? Wait, M is wife of A, not sister. So M is aunt by marriage, not blood.
4. Conclusion: The only blood aunt of P is N (Sita’s mother’s sister).

So Nikhil’s mother, Nisha (N) is Prakash’s aunt.

Answer: Nisha (the only blood aunt of Prakash).

Diagram (text)

          Ramesh ──┬── Nisha (wife)
                   │
                 Sita ──┬── Prakash
                   │
                 Anil ──┬── Maya

Note: Nisha is sister of Maya → sister of Anil’s wife → aunt of Prakash.

4. Quick Revision Summary

Quick Self‑Test

1. If A is the brother of B and B is the mother of C, what is A to C?
   Answer: Uncle.

2. D is the sister of E. E is married to F. Who is D to F?
   Answer: Sister‑in‑law (not a blood relation).

3. G is