Find the Alphabet Address

Every letter is hiding a number. Crack that number, and you can jump straight to the right place in the alphabet... without chanting all twenty-six letters from the beginning. Ready to find the secret address?

Picture the alphabet as a row of twenty-six numbered spaces. The counting starts at ONE. A sits in position one, B sits in position two, and C sits in position three. There is no position zero, because A is the first letter. To find a letter from a position, start at A as one and count forwards. Touch one space for each number. For position five, your finger lands on E: A, one; B, two; C, three; D, four; E, five. You can travel the other way too. If you see H, count its numbered space. A is one, then move along until H. H is position eight. Letter to number, or number to letter - the same alphabet map works both ways.

Let's work through an example. The question says: What letter is in position nineteen of the alphabet? We are given the number nineteen, and we need the matching letter. So choose the number-to-letter direction on our map. Begin with A at position one. Counting every letter one by one would work, but a useful checkpoint makes it quicker. J is position ten. From J, move forwards one letter and one number together: K is eleven, L is twelve, M is thirteen, N is fourteen. Keep the pairings locked together. O is fifteen, P is sixteen, Q is seventeen, R is eighteen... and S is nineteen. Stop there. The letter in position nineteen is S. Notice that starting A at zero would have landed one letter too far, on T. That is why A must always be one.

Remember: A is one, then each step forward adds one. When you are given a position, count to its letter; when you are given a letter, count to its position. Keep letter and number moving together, and every alphabet address is yours to find!