Q8.Direction: Study the following information carefully and answer the…
2025
Q8.Direction: Study the following information carefully and answer the question given below: There is an NM axis in such a way that N is in the north and M is in the south direction. There is an RS axis in such a way that R is in the west direction and S is in the east direction. NM axis and RS axis intersect at a point P in such a way that NP is 12 m, PM is 16 m, PR is 14 m, PS is 23 m. Mridul starts walking from point P and walks 20 m in the north direction and then he takes a turn to his left and walks 20 m. Suraj starts walking from point M and walks 20 m in the west direction. Rohan starts walking from point R and walks 12 m in the north direction and then he takes a turn to his right and walks 37 m. What is the minimum distance between Suraj’s current position and Mridul’s current position?
- A.
16 m
- B.
42 m
- C.
36 m
- D.
18 m
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
In direction-and-distance problems, plant a reference point as the origin and express every walker's stops as coordinate offsets along the two axes — north/south on one and east/west on the other. Once every walker's final position is written as an (x, y) pair relative to the same origin, the distance between any two positions follows directly from their coordinate differences (a straight subtraction when the two points share an axis, or the Pythagorean theorem otherwise).
Fix P as the origin (0, 0). From the given axis distances, N lies 12 m north of P, M lies 16 m south of P, R lies 14 m west of P, and S lies 23 m east of P.
Trace Mridul: he starts at P (0, 0) and walks 20 m north, reaching (0, 20). Facing north, a left turn points him west, and he walks 20 m west to (−20, 20).
Trace Suraj: he starts at M (0, −16) and walks 20 m west only, reaching (−20, −16); his north-south position never changes from M's.
Both final positions share the same x-coordinate (−20), so they lie on the same vertical line. The distance between them is simply the difference of their y-coordinates: 20 − (−16) = 36 m.
Cross-check via the intermediate point N: Mridul's 20 m northward walk from P covers 12 m to reach N and a further 8 m beyond it (20 = 12 + 8). Adding this to Suraj's 16 m south of P gives the same vertical total: 12 + 8 + 16 = 36 m, confirming Option '36 m'. (Rohan's path uses the R-S axis and does not affect this particular distance.)