A row facing south — Seating & Puzzles Aptitude Question
A row facing south: Five people sit in a row facing south. A is at the extreme right end as seen by an observer… Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Seating & Puzzles
- Section: Logical Reasoning
- Difficulty: Medium
- Time target: 90 seconds
Question
Five people sit in a row facing south. A is at the extreme right end as seen by an observer standing in front of them. From A's own point of view, A is at which end?
Options
- Left
- Right
- Middle
- Cannot be determined
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: A. Left
Worked solution
- The observer stands facing the row, so their left and right are the reverse of the row's.
- What the observer calls the extreme right is the row's own extreme left.
Answer: Left.
The idea
Always fix whose left and right the question means. A row facing south is described from the north by an observer whose sides are reversed.
Shortcut. Facing south, each person's right hand points west; the observer facing north has his right hand to the east. Opposite facings mirror sides, so the observer's right end is A's left.
Common trap. "Right" — accepting the observer's 'right end' as A's own right, forgetting that someone facing the observer has left and right reversed.