Consider the figures given below:

Answer: (a) Figure: a straight bar with a solid square at its left end and two bent legs

Each row and each column uses each body once and each set of legs once. The last row already has the arc-with-triangle and U-with-dot bodies, and the T-shaped and forked legs, so the missing figure is the bar with a square and two bent legs — (a).

1. Bodies: U-curve with dot, straight bar with square, arc with triangle. Legs: two bent, three T-shaped, four forked.
2. Row 1: U + two bent; bar + three T; arc + four forked. Row 2: bar + four forked; arc + two bent; U + three T.
3. Row 3 has arc + three T and U + four forked, so it lacks the bar body and the two bent legs.
4. Column 3 agrees: arc and U are used, so the bar is missing; forked and T-shaped legs are used, so two bent legs are missing.
5. Only (a) — a bar with a square and two bent legs — fits.

Remember · In 3 × 3 figure matrices, split each figure into parts and check that each part appears once in every row and column.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2018, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). · Report an error