Directions: Read the information and answer the given questions. Fourteen…
2025
Directions: Read the information and answer the given questions.
Fourteen persons are seated in two parallel rows, with seven persons each. H, I, J, K, L, M, and N in Row 1 and facing South, while P, Q, R, S, T, U, and V in Row 2 and facing North, but not necessarily in the same order.
J is the neighbour of the person who faces the one seated second to the left of T. I sits second to the left of N. R is seated opposite the person who is immediately left of N, who doesn't sit opposite Q. P's column number is exactly three more than M's column number, and P sits third to the right of S. The one who sits second to the left of Q sits opposite to M. Q is seated three places away from U, who occupies one of the extreme ends. T sits to the right of S but is not an immediate neighbor of Q. S is seated opposite the person who is immediately to the right of K. L and P are not seated directly opposite to each other, and also don't sit at the ends.
Which among the following statement is true?
- A.
Neither P nor Q sits directly opposite I
- B.
S faces L
- C.
Q and T are exactly four seats apart
- D.
K and H are immediate neighbours
- E.
T sits exactly one seat away from U
Attempted by 3 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept:
In a two-row ‘facing’ seating puzzle, each person's own left and right follow the direction they face, not how the row looks on paper — so the two rows have mirrored left/right senses. ‘Opposite’ simply means the same column number in the other row, so two people's column numbers can be compared directly even across the two rows; any ‘X places away’ or ‘column number’ clue is just the numerical gap between those column numbers.
Application:
U sits at an extreme end and Q is three seats from U; three seats in from either end of a seven-seat row lands on seat 4, so Q sits at seat 4 of Row 2 (P, Q, R, S, T, U, V).
The seat two places to Q's left (Row 2 seat 2) sits opposite M, so M sits at seat 2 of Row 1 (H, I, J, K, L, M, N).
M is fixed at column 2 (previous step), and the clue states P's column number is exactly three more than M's, so P sits at column 5; since P also sits three seats to the right of S (Row 2), this fixes S at column 2.
S sits opposite the seat immediately to K's right, so K sits at Row 1 seat 3, one seat to M's left.
I sits two seats to N's left, and R sits opposite the seat immediately to N's left; testing the Row 1 seats still open for N (1, 4, 5, 6, 7) shows N = 1 would force I onto K's seat 3, and N = 4 would force R onto P's seat 5 — so only N = 5 is valid, fixing I at seat 7 and R at seat 6 of Row 2.
With Q, S and P already at seats 4, 2 and 5, U must take Row 2's other open extreme seat (seat 1) so that T (to the right of S, but not next to Q) can occupy seat 7, leaving V at seat 3.
J must be an immediate neighbour of the Row 1 seat opposite T's second-left seat, which is N at seat 5 — so J sits at seat 4 or seat 6. Either placement leaves the remaining two seats for H and L; since L cannot sit at an end, L takes the non-end seat of the pair and H takes seat 1 — so H is fixed at seat 1 regardless of exactly how J and L split seats 4 and 6.
This fixes Row 1 as seat 1-H, 2-M, 3-K, 5-N, 7-I (with J and L occupying seats 4 and 6 in either order), and Row 2 as seat 1-U, 2-S, 3-V, 4-Q, 5-P, 6-R, 7-T.
Cross-check:
I (Row 1, seat 7) sits opposite T (Row 2, seat 7); P (seat 5) and Q (seat 4) are nowhere near seat 7, so neither sits opposite I.
S (seat 2) sits opposite M (Row 1 seat 2); L occupies seat 4 or seat 6 in the fixed arrangement, never seat 2, so S never faces L.
Q (seat 4) and T (seat 7) of Row 2 are three seats apart, not four.
K (seat 3) and H (seat 1) of Row 1 have one seat between them, not adjacent.
T (seat 7) and U (seat 1) of Row 2 sit at opposite extreme ends — six seats apart, not one.
Result:
Only the statement that neither P nor Q sits directly opposite I holds across the fixed arrangement; every other statement is contradicted by the seat map derived above.