Eleven students A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J and K are sitting in a row of the…

2026

Eleven students A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J and K are sitting in a row of the class facing the teacher. D, who is to the immediate left of F, is second to the right of C. A is second to the right of E, who is at one of the ends. J is the immediate neighbor of A and B and third to the left of G. H is to the immediate left of D and third to the right of I.

Who is sitting in the middle of the row?

(question no 1 and 2 are linked together )

  1. A.

    C

  2. B.

    I

  3. C.

    B

  4. D.

    G

Attempted by 11 students.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: B

Linear (single-row) seating puzzles are solved by turning each relative-position clue into a short position code -- "X is second to the right of Y" means position(X) = position(Y) + 2, and "immediately left of" means adjacent by exactly one seat -- then merging the resulting partial chains wherever they share a member, and finally checking every clue against the merged order.

Building the chains from the clues:

  1. D is second to the right of C, and D is immediately left of F, so C, _, D, F occupy four consecutive seats (C at seat p, D at seat p+2, F at seat p+3).

  2. H is immediately left of D and third to the right of I. Since H sits right before D, H is exactly the seat between C and D found in step 1 -- giving the six-seat block I, _, C, H, D, F.

  3. A is second to the right of E, and E sits at one of the row's ends. E cannot sit at the right end (that would push A past seat 11), so E sits at the left end, seat 1, and A sits at seat 3.

  4. J is the immediate neighbour of both A and B, and third to the left of G. Placing J at seat 2 fails because B would then have no seat left adjacent to J, so J sits at seat 4 (right of A), B sits at seat 5, and G sits three seats right of J, at seat 7 -- giving E, _, A, J, B, _, G across seats 1-7.

  5. The six-seat block from step 2 must fit into the seats left free by step 4 without disturbing A, J, B, or G -- the only stretch long enough is seats 6-11, so I sits at seat 6, C at seat 8, H at seat 9, D at seat 10, and F at seat 11; the blank seat 7 in the block is filled by G, confirming the merge.

  6. The one remaining student, K, takes the only seat still empty -- seat 2, between E and A.

Final seating (seats 1 to 11): E, K, A, J, B, I, G, C, H, D, F.

Cross-check against every clue: D (seat 10) is second to the right of C (seat 8) and immediately left of F (seat 11); A (seat 3) is second to the right of E (seat 1), the row's left end; J (seat 4) neighbours both A (seat 3) and B (seat 5), and sits third to the left of G (seat 7); H (seat 9) is immediately left of D (seat 10) and third to the right of I (seat 6) -- every clue holds.

The row has 11 seats, so the middle seat is the 6th -- occupied by I.

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