Shyam walked 20 metres towards south. Then he turned to his left and walked 15…

2017

Shyam walked 20 metres towards south. Then he turned to his left and walked 15 meters. He again turned to his left and walked 20 metres. He then turned to his right and walked 10 metres. How far and in which direction is Shyam from the starting point?

  1. A.

    25 Metres, East

  2. B.

    35 Metres, West

  3. C.

    25 Metres, North

  4. D.

    35 Metres, East

Attempted by 1 students.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: A

Concept: In direction-sense problems, track the walker's facing direction using compass bearings — North = 0°, East = 90°, South = 180°, West = 270°, increasing clockwise. A left turn subtracts 90° from the current bearing and a right turn adds 90° to it. Convert every leg of the walk into an East-West and North-South displacement, then find the net distance from the start using the distance formula.

  1. Start at the origin, facing South (bearing 180°). Walking 20 m south moves the position from (0, 0) to (0, −20).

  2. Turning left changes the bearing to 180° − 90° = 90° (East). Walking 15 m east moves the position to (15, −20).

  3. Turning left again changes the bearing to 90° − 90° = 0° (North). Walking 20 m north moves the position to (15, 0).

  4. Turning right changes the bearing to 0° + 90° = 90° (East). Walking 10 m east moves the position to (25, 0).

Cross-check: The final position (25, 0) shares the same north-south coordinate as the start, so the two south/north legs (20 m each) cancel exactly, leaving the two east legs to combine as 15 m + 10 m = 25 m. The straight-line distance √(25² + 0²) = 25 m confirms a purely eastward displacement with no residual north-south offset.

Result: Shyam ends up 25 metres east of his starting point.

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