Gaurav walks 20 metres towards North. He then turns left and walks 40 metres.…

Concept: In direction-sense problems, treat each turn as a 90° rotation relative to the compass (a left turn moves North → West → South → East → North; a right turn moves the opposite way), then split the whole path into net North-South and net East-West displacement. Movements along the same axis in opposite directions cancel out, while movements along the same axis in the same direction add up; the final distance from the start is obtained from what remains after this cancellation.

1. Starting at point A, Gaurav walks 20 m North to reach point B; he is now facing North.

2. At B he turns left, which changes his facing from North to West, and walks 40 m West to reach point C.

3. At C he turns left again, changing his facing from West to South, and walks 20 m South to reach point D.

4. At D he turns right, changing his facing from South to West, and walks 20 m West to reach point E.

Cross-check: The North leg (B) and the South leg (D) are equal in length and opposite in direction, so they cancel out completely — there is no net vertical displacement. The two West legs (B to C, and D to E) run in the same direction, so they add directly to give the net horizontal displacement.

Since the vertical displacement is zero, the straight-line distance from A to E equals this horizontal displacement: 40 m + 20 m = 60 m.