Read the following information carefully and answer the question given below:
(i) K, L, M, N, O, P and Q are sitting around a circle and are facing the centre.
(ii) L is second to the left of M, who is to the immediate left of P.
(iii) K is third to the left of O.
(iv) L is between N and O.
Which of the following is the position of P?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Fourth to the right of N
For people sitting round a circle and facing the centre, a person’s left is the next seat clockwise and the right is the next seat anticlockwise (seen from above).
Fixing P, M and L (clue ii):
M is to the immediate left of P, so M sits next to P, clockwise.
L is second to the left of M, so L sits two seats further clockwise, with one empty seat between M and L.
Placing N and O (clue iv), then K and Q (clue iii):
L sits between N and O, so N and O take the two seats beside L: the one between M and L, and the one after L.
K is third to the left of O, that is, three seats clockwise from O. With O in the seat after L, K would land on P’s seat, so O sits between M and L and N sits after L.
K, three seats clockwise from O, sits after N, and Q takes the last seat, next to P.
Clockwise order: P, M, O, L, N, K, Q.
Going anticlockwise (to N’s right), the seats after N are L (1st), O (2nd), M (3rd) and P (4th), so P is fourth to the right of N.
Why the other options are incorrect
Option (1) Between M and O — Incorrect. P sits between M and Q; O is on the other side of M.
Option (3) To the immediate right of O — Incorrect. The seat to O’s immediate right (anticlockwise) is M’s.
Option (4) To the immediate right of K — Incorrect. The seat to K’s immediate right is N’s.