Directions: Study the following information carefully to answer the given…
2022
Directions: Study the following information carefully to answer the given questions:
Ten persons- M, N, O, P, Q, T, U, V, W and X sit around a circular table but not necessarily in the same order. Five of them face inside and rest of them face outside. No two consecutive alphabetical named persons sit adjacent to each other. Not more than two neighbours face the same direction.
Two persons sit between W and N. M sits 3rd to the right of N. Immediate neighbour of M face opposite direction to each other. X and V sit immediate left to each other but not an immediate neighbour N. O and P sit 2nd to the right of each other. Immediate neighbours of U face the same direction but not same as U. No one sits between O and X either one of the sides. W and Q face the same direction. X does not face outside.
Four of the following five are alike in a certain way and hence form a group. Who among the following does not belong to that group?
- A.
X
- B.
W
- C.
Q
- D.
V
- E.
M
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept
In an “odd-one-out” (classification) question built on a seating arrangement, you first solve the full arrangement, then look for a single property shared by four of the five named persons. The person who lacks that property is the answer. The grouping property is almost always one of: the direction a person faces, the type of their neighbours, or position relative to a fixed person.
Application
Solving the arrangement clue by clue, step by step:
Fix N's seat as the starting reference point for the circle; every other seat is described relative to it.
“Two persons sit between W and N” places W four seats away from N along one arc, with two seats (to be filled) in between.
“No one sits between O and X” makes O and X immediate neighbours, and “X and V sit immediate left to each other” makes V the immediate neighbour on X's other side, chaining O – X – V into three consecutive seats.
“O and P sit 2nd to the right of each other” (exactly one seat apart) and “M sits 3rd to the right of N” (measured using N's own facing direction, fixed in the next step) between them pin P immediately next to W and M immediately next to V, leaving only one consistent slot for each.
The two seats between W and N from step 2 are now the only unplaced seats next to that gap, and T is the only name left for one of them, fixing T and P into that gap in order.
Only two seats and two names – U and Q – now remain; “immediate neighbours of U face the same direction as each other but opposite to U” and “immediate neighbours of M face opposite directions to each other” decide which of the two remaining seats is U and which is Q.
For facing directions: “X does not face outside” fixes X as facing inside. Combined with “W and Q face the same direction,” the opposite-facing condition on M's neighbours, the same-but-opposite-to-U condition on U's neighbours, and “not more than two neighbours face the same direction” (no run of three consecutive same-facing seats), every seat's facing is pinned down, giving exactly five persons facing inside and five facing outside.
The fully solved circle (clockwise):
Seat (clockwise) | Person | Facing |
|---|---|---|
1 | N | Inside |
2 | T | Inside |
3 | P | Outside |
4 | W | Outside |
5 | O | Inside |
6 | X | Inside |
7 | V | Outside |
8 | M | Outside |
9 | U | Inside |
10 | Q | Outside |
Reading off the facing of the five named persons from this solved arrangement: W, Q, V and M all face outside, while X faces inside. Four of the five share “faces outside,” so that is the property forming the group, and X is the one that does not belong to it.
Cross-check
Verifying every clue in the question against this solved arrangement:
Alphabetical adjacency: the ten seated-adjacent pairs (N-T, T-P, P-W, W-O, O-X, X-V, V-M, M-U, U-Q, Q-N) contain none of the forbidden consecutive-letter pairs (M-N, N-O, O-P, P-Q, T-U, U-V, V-W, W-X).
“Not more than two neighbours face the same direction”: reading the facings in seat order (in, in, out, out, in, in, out, out, in, out) never runs three seats of the same facing in a row.
“Two persons sit between W and N”: T and P sit in the two seats between them.
“M sits 3rd to the right of N”: confirmed using N's own inward-facing perspective to define “right.”
“Immediate neighbour of M face opposite direction to each other”: M's neighbours V (outside) and U (inside) face opposite ways.
“X and V sit immediate left to each other but not an immediate neighbour of N”: X and V are immediate neighbours, and N's actual neighbours are T and Q, not X or V.
“O and P sit 2nd to the right of each other”: exactly one seat (W) sits between O and P.
“Immediate neighbours of U face the same direction but not same as U”: U's neighbours M and Q both face outside, while U itself faces inside.
“No one sits between O and X either one of the sides”: O and X are immediate neighbours with nobody between them.
“W and Q face the same direction”: both face outside.
“X does not face outside”: confirmed, X faces inside.
The arrangement seats exactly five persons facing inside (N, T, O, X, U) and five facing outside (P, W, V, M, Q), matching the question's condition.
Hence the person who does not belong to the group is X.