Question

Difficulty: HardCoding and Decoding

In a certain coding system, vowels are replaced by their reverse alphabetical position letters (AZA \leftrightarrow Z, EVE \leftrightarrow V, IRI \leftrightarrow R, OLO \leftrightarrow L, UFU \leftrightarrow F). Consonants appearing at odd-numbered position indices (1st, 3rd, 5th, etc.) are shifted forward by 33 positions in the alphabet (+3+3), while consonants appearing at even-numbered position indices (2nd, 4th, 6th, etc.) are shifted backward by 22 positions (2-2).

For example, under this system, the word BASKET is coded as EZVIVR.

What is the coded representation for the word HARVEST?

Answer: KZUTVQW / kzutvqw

Answer

KZUTVQW
Transforming each letter of HARVEST according to its position and type yields: Position 1 (H, odd-index consonant) \rightarrow H +3=K+ 3 = \mathbf{K}; Position 2 (A, vowel) \rightarrow reverse of A =Z= \mathbf{Z}; Position 3 (R, odd-index consonant) \rightarrow R +3=U+ 3 = \mathbf{U}; Position 4 (V, even-index consonant) \rightarrow V 2=T- 2 = \mathbf{T}; Position 5 (E, vowel) \rightarrow reverse of E =V= \mathbf{V}; Position 6 (S, even-index consonant) \rightarrow S 2=Q- 2 = \mathbf{Q}; Position 7 (T, odd-index consonant) \rightarrow T +3=W+ 3 = \mathbf{W}. Concatenating these transformed letters produces KZUTVQW.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the position index (1 to 7), letter type (vowel or consonant), and index parity (odd or even) for each letter in HARVEST.
H (1st, odd consonant), A (2nd, vowel), R (3rd, odd consonant), V (4th, even consonant), E (5th, vowel), S (6th, even consonant), T (7th, odd consonant).
Establishing individual letter rules based on position and character type is required before transformation.
2
Apply +3+3 shift to odd-positioned consonants (H, R, T).
H (8) + 3 = 11 (K); R (18) + 3 = 21 (U); T (20) + 3 = 23 (W).
Consonants at positions 1, 3, and 7 move forward by 3 letters in the alphabet.
3
Apply reverse alphabetical indexing to vowels (A, E).
A (1st letter) becomes Z (26th letter); E (5th letter) becomes V (22nd letter).
Vowels map to their opposite position pairs (27position27 - \text{position}).$
4
Apply 2-2 shift to even-positioned consonants (V, S).
V (22) - 2 = 20 (T); S (19) - 2 = 17 (Q).
Consonants at positions 4 and 6 move backward by 2 letters in the alphabet.
5
Combine the transformed letters sequentially from positions 1 through 7.
K + Z + U + T + V + Q + W = KZUTVQW.
Assembling the converted characters in original sequence yields the final coded string.

Key Concept

Positional Parity Shift and Vowel Reverse Alphabetical Encoding
Estimated Time:2m 0s
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