In a queue of girls, Neetu is seventh from the front. Mona is sixth from the back. Parul is standing in between the two. What could be the minimum number of girls standing in the queue?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → 8
Note: The given answer is as per the official NTA Answer Key. However, none of the given options appears to be correct, because the queue can have as few as 7 girls, as explained below.
The queue is shortest when Mona stands ahead of Neetu, so that the girls counted from the front and those counted from the back overlap.
Neetu is 7th from the front, so the queue has at least 7 girls
In a queue of 7, Mona, 6th from the back, is \(7-6+1=2\)nd from the front
Places 3 to 6 lie between Mona (2nd) and Neetu (7th), so Parul can stand in any of them
Of the four options, 8 is the smallest number of girls that fits (Mona 3rd, Neetu 7th, Parul between them). Seven girls are enough for this queue, but NTA’s options only start counting at eight.