Who is in the middle — Seating & Puzzles Aptitude Question
Who is in the middle: Five friends sit in a row facing north. P is at the extreme left, T is at the extreme right,… Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Seating & Puzzles
- Section: Logical Reasoning
- Difficulty: Medium
- Time target: 90 seconds
Question
Five friends sit in a row facing north. P is at the extreme left, T is at the extreme right, Q is immediately to the right of P, and S is between R and T. Who sits in the middle?
Options
- P
- Q
- R
- S
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: C. R
Worked solution
- P = seat 1, T = seat 5, and Q immediately right of P means Q = seat 2.
- Seats 3 and 4 remain for R and S, and S must lie between R and T.
- That forces R = 3 and S = 4.
- The row is P, Q, R, S, T, so the middle seat holds R.
Answer: R.
The idea
Fix the absolute positions first, then adjacency, then 'between' clues. Check every clue against the finished row before answering.
Shortcut. Seat 3 cannot be P, Q or T (seats 1, 2 and 5), and S must sit next to T to be between R and T, so the middle seat is R's.
Common trap. "S" — 'S is between R and T' suggests the middle, but S is between them in seat 4, with R in seat 3.