In a code, each letter is replaced by its position in the English alphabet (A=1, B=2…)
In a code, each letter is replaced by its position in the English alphabet (A=1, B=2...). Coding "CAB", Rahul writes "3, 1, 2" and thinks this will always work correctly, whatever the word is. His friend says this only changes the letters, not what the word means. Who is right?
Who do you think is right? Pick one.
The answer: His friend is right, it only replaces each letter with a number
Why
Rahul's coding of 'CAB' as 3, 1, 2 is completely correct — C is the 3rd letter, A is the 1st, B is the 2nd. Where the mix-up happens is in what that code actually represents: this rule only ever swaps one SYMBOL (a letter) for another SYMBOL (a number) in a fixed, mechanical way — it has no idea what 'CAB' means as an English word, and no way to know it. The code for 'CAB' (a vehicle) and 'BAC' (not even a real word) would follow the identical letter-to-number rule, proving the code itself carries no meaning, only position. Test it: decode 3, 1, 2 back — you get C, A, B again, exactly what went in, with nothing added about vehicles or anything else. His friend is right: this kind of code only replaces each letter with its alphabet position — the meaning of the word is not something the code tracks at all.
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