Concept 1 of 7
Alphabet Position: Counting by Letters
Today's big idea
Turn letters into their positions, do the arithmetic, then turn back.
Anchors E=5, J=10, O=15, T=20, Z=26, and left plus right always makes 27.
How it works
👀 What's going on?
Every letter carries a number, its place in the alphabet. A is 1 and Z is 26. A surprising number of reasoning questions turn into plain arithmetic the moment you swap letters for those numbers.
💡 Here's the trick
Look at the strip above. Five anchors are worth memorising: E is 5, J is 10, O is 15, T is 20 and Z is 26. From any anchor you can count to a nearby letter in a step or two. Position from the left plus position from the right always makes 27, and the letter midway between two others sits at their average.
🪄 How to do it
- 1.Turn each letter into its number, using the anchors on the picture above.
- 2.Do the arithmetic: add, subtract, average, or take 27 minus the position.
- 3.Turn your answer number back into a letter.
✍️ Try it
Which letter sits 6 places to the right of H? Then, which letter is midway between D and N?
H is 8, so 8 + 6 = 14, which is N. For the midway one, D is 4 and N is 14, and their average is 9, which is I. Both are ordinary arithmetic once the letters become numbers.
⚠️ Watch out
You might be thinking position from the right is 26 minus the position. It is 27 minus. Z is 26th from the left and 1st from the right, and 26 + 1 makes 27, not 26.
🌟 Why this matters
Puzzle books, word games and simple ciphers all run on letter positions. Knowing five anchors means you never have to recite the alphabet from A.
Exam tip: Write E, J, O, T and Z on your rough page once, and every letter question after that gets faster.
Watch me solve one
Quanta solves it
“Watch how I think through one of these — then you try.”
THE PROBLEM
“Which letter is 4 steps RIGHT of M? (M=13)”
- 1
Find position of M
M = 13.
- 2
Add steps
13 + 4 = 17
- 3
Look up the letter
Letter at position 17 = Q.
- 4
Answer ✓
4 right of M = Q
Now you try one — same steps, different story 👇
See it in action
⚡ Time to play!
Start at H. Move 5 steps RIGHT and read the letter you land on.
ALPHABET POSITION · ROUND 1 OF 3
Quick check
✅ VERIFICATION
A letter is 8th from the right of the alphabet. What is its position from the left?
⚡ Finish the activity above first to answer.
Keep going!
Up next: Coding-Decoding
Find the shift between one pair, then decode the whole word.