Two forty-five degree turns — Aptitude Question
Two forty-five degree turns: A man facing east turns 45° clockwise twice, then 90° anticlockwise. Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Direction Sense
- Section: Logical Reasoning
- Difficulty: Hard
- Time target: 75 seconds
Question
A man facing east turns 45° clockwise twice, then 90° anticlockwise. Which direction is he facing?
Options
- North
- South
- East
- West
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: C. East
Worked solution
- East, turned 45° clockwise twice, is 90° clockwise: south.
- A 90° anticlockwise turn from south returns to east.
Answer: East.
The idea
Combine the turns into one net rotation before applying it. Here they cancel exactly, so the final direction is the starting one.
Shortcut. Two 45° clockwise steps make one right turn and 90° anticlockwise is one left turn; a right and a left undo each other, leaving east.
Common trap. "West" — treating the 90° anticlockwise turn as clockwise, which carries him from south on to west.