Read the information carefully and answer the questions given below: Eight…
2025
Read the information carefully and answer the questions given below:
Eight people – A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H are living in a four-storey building where the ground floor is numbered as 1, just above it is floor 2, then the topmost floor is numbered as 4. Each of the floors has 2 flats in it as flat-P and flat-Q. Flat-P is in the west of flat-Q. Flat P of floor-2 is immediately above flat P of floor 1 and immediately below flat P of floor 3, and so on. Similarly, flat Q of floor 2 is immediately above flat Q of floor 1 and immediately below flat Q of floor 3.
C doesn’t live on an odd numbered floor. B lives to the south east of A. Only one floor gap is between A and G who lives to the east of C. H lives below B and both live in the same named flat. F lives to the north of E.
Four of the following five are alike in a certain way and thus form a group. Find the one who doesn’t belong to group?
- A.
F
- B.
D
- C.
B
- D.
C
- E.
G
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept
In an 'odd one out' grouping question, four of the five named people share one common defining property and the fifth breaks it. The correct method is to first fix the complete arrangement from all the clues, then find the single property that holds for four members and fails for exactly one - never to guess from the labels.
Building the arrangement
The building has 4 floors (floor 1 = ground, floor 4 = top). Each floor has flat P (west) and flat Q (east). 'North' means a higher floor in the same column and 'south' a lower floor; 'east' is the Q side and 'west' the P side. Working through the clues step by step:
C is not on an odd floor, so C is on floor 2 or 4.
B is south-east of A: B is on a lower floor than A and in the east (Q) column while A is in the west (P) column.
There is exactly one floor gap between A and G (their floors differ by 2), and G is in the east of C on the same floor - so C takes flat P and G takes flat Q on the same floor, which (being even) places them on floor 2.
H is below B in the same-named flat (same column), and F is to the north of E, i.e. on a higher floor than E in the same column - not necessarily the floor immediately above. Combining these with the one-floor-gap and south-east links forces A to floor 4 (west) and B to floor 3 (east).
The remaining people fill the last seats uniquely: F goes to floor 3 (west) and E to floor 1 (west, in the same column as F), while D and H take the remaining seats.
This yields a single arrangement (flat P shown left/west, flat Q shown right/east):
Floor | Flat P (west) | Flat Q (east) |
|---|---|---|
4 (top) | A | D |
3 | F | B |
2 | C | G |
1 (ground) | E | H |
Applying the grouping rule
Test the five named people - F, D, B, C and G - against one property: does each have a person living in the flat exactly one floor up in the same column?
F (floor 3, west): the flat directly above on floor 4 is occupied - yes.
B (floor 3, east): the flat directly above on floor 4 is occupied - yes.
C (floor 2, west): the flat directly above on floor 3 is occupied - yes.
G (floor 2, east): the flat directly above on floor 3 is occupied - yes.
D (floor 4, east): floor 4 is the top floor, so no flat exists one floor above - no.
Four of the five have an immediate upstairs neighbour; only the top-floor resident has none. Hence D is the one that does not belong to the group.
Cross-check
No competing property gives a clean four-versus-one split: grouping by flat column gives a 2-3 split (two in P, three in Q) and grouping by floor parity also fails to isolate exactly one. Only the 'has someone one floor directly above' property isolates a single person, confirming D.