Priyanka starts walking towards the south. She takes a left turn and walks a…
2026
Priyanka starts walking towards the south. She takes a left turn and walks a certain distance, then takes a right turn and walks a certain distance, and finally takes a left turn and stops. In which direction is Priyanka now located with respect to her starting point?
- A.
North-East
- B.
North-West
- C.
South-East
- D.
South-West
Attempted by 1922 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: In a direction-sense problem, track the walker's facing direction after every turn using the standard compass turn rule — a left turn rotates the heading 90° counter-clockwise and a right turn rotates it 90° clockwise — then add up the net displacement along each straight leg that actually carries a walking distance. A turn that is immediately followed by a stop contributes no displacement. The final position relative to the start is found by combining the net east-west and north-south displacement.
Application: Trace each turn in order, starting from her given facing direction:
She starts facing south, as given in the question.
First turn — left, taken while facing south: her heading rotates to face east, and she walks the first distance heading east.
Second turn — right, taken while now facing east: her heading rotates to face south, and she walks the second distance heading south.
Third turn — left, taken while facing south: her heading rotates to face east again, but she stops immediately after this turn, so this leg carries no walking distance.
Only the first two legs — east, then south — contribute to her net displacement from the starting point.
Cross-check: Place the starting point at the origin, with east as the positive x-direction and north as the positive y-direction. After the first leg she is at (+e, 0); after the second leg she is at (+e, −s), where e and s are the two (unspecified but positive) walking distances. A point with a positive x-coordinate and a negative y-coordinate lies to the south-east of the origin, confirming the result independently.
Result: South-East.
Note: This question asks for Priyanka's position relative to her starting point, not her final facing direction — after the third turn she is actually facing east, which is why the answer among the given options is a diagonal direction (South-East) rather than a plain cardinal one.