Directions

Directions are part of logical reasoning. It is one of the most commonly found topics in almost all the entrance exams. The topic requires analytical and logical skills to solve the questions. Mastering the directions topic will help in gaining the expertise in seating arrangement.

Following is the list of exams where directions questions appear frequently:

1. CAPF
2. IBPS Regional Rural Banks (RRB)
3. SBI PO
4. IBPS SO
5. Railway Recruitment Board (NTPC)
6. RBI Grade B

To know more about other Govt Exams, check at the linked article.

What is the Direction?

The direction is the information contained in the relative position of one point with respect to another point without the distance information. Directions may be either relative to some indicated reference or absolute according to some previously agreed upon frame of reference.

Cardinal directions

The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are:

1. North
2. East
3. South
4. West

To explore various bank exams in detail, check at the linked article.

These directions are commonly denoted by their initials: N, E, S, W. East and west are at right angles to north and south, with east being in the clockwise direction of rotation from north and west being directly opposite east.

Representation of all 16 cardinal directions

The intermediate directions of the four cardinal directions are:

To know more about SBI exams, check at the linked article.

The intermediate directions are further classified as:

Topics:

1. The right and left directional movement
2. The directional reference point
3. The directions of sun rays and shadow
4. The correct map v/s wrong map
5. Directions in Clocks
6. Directions in Seating arrangement

Assumptions:

Throughout the directions topic, the direction of the top of the page is always considered as North unless specified in the question.

Ex: The direction a person is facing at a present movement is always taken as north for convenience and thereby making the approach to solve the problem easier.

To explore Logical Reasoning in detail, check at the linked article.

Topic 1: The Right and Left directional movement

The right and left movement of a person is always with reference to the body moving in the scenario. It is not with respect to the person who is solving the questions.

Right and left directions

Direct yourself

A person is walking towards you, and after walking for a few meters he takes a right turn. Which direction he is moving?

Solution: The direction we are facing is always assumed as North. Hence, if a person is walking towards us. He is walking facing(towards) South.

Example 1:

Mr Deepak Mohan walks 5 km towards the south and then turns to the right. After walking 3 km he turns to the left and walks 5 km. What direction is he facing right now?

A.West

B.South

C.North-East

D.South-West

Solution:

The path traced by Deepak Mohan

The right and left movement are with respect to the Mr Deepak Mohan. After walking 5 km towards South, he takes a right turn and now will be facing West. After walking 3 more km he turns left and walks 5 more km. Now he is facing South.

Hence, the answer is option B.

Check out the SBI Syllabus at the linked article.

Example 2:

Sowmya Krishnan walked 20 m towards the north. Then she turned right and walks 30 m. Then she turns right and walks 35 m. Then she turns left and walks 15 m. Finally she turns left and walks 15 m. In which direction and how many meters is she from the starting position?

A.15 m West

B.30 m East

C.30 m West

D.45 m East

Solution:

The path traced by Sowmya Krishnan

Topic 2: The directional reference point

Observe the five cities on the map shown below. The five cities are New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata.

The directional reference point of five cities

The city Bengaluru is exactly below New Delhi, Hence Bengaluru is in South direction with respect to New Delhi whereas it is in West direction with respect to Chennai.

Mumbai is in North West direction with respect to Bengaluru whereas Bengaluru is in South-East direction with respect to Mumbai. One should draw a cardinal direction at a reference city/place to find the direction of the other city.

To explore RRB NTPC Syllabus, check at the linked article.

Example 3:

Mrs.Veena wants to go to the Krishna Rajendra market. She moved northwards and after covering some distance turned left and moved 4 km and reached a crossing. The road in front of her led to Jaynagar while the road on to her left led to Bangalore Medical College and the road on to her right led to the Krishna Rajendra market. In which direction the Krishna Rajendra market is located with reference to the starting point?

A. West

B. North-West

C. South-West

D. East

Solution:

The diagram represents the path followed by Mrs Veena. According to the diagram the Krishna Rajendra market is in North – West Direction with respect to the starting point. Hence, option B is the correct answer.

Topic 3: The directions of sun rays and shadow

A boy is playing with skipping rope in the playground and is facing North in the morning then, he observes that his shadow was towards his left as the Sun appeared in the East. The boy turned 180 degrees while playing, he is facing South now. His own shadow will be towards his right as the Sun is in the east.

Sunrise/sunset and the shadow

He does this every day once in the morning and evening. He plays facing south and observed that his shadow was towards his left and then turns and faces North he observed that his shadow was towards his right. The direction of one’s’ shadow depends on the direction and time she/he is facing.

The table below summarises the relation of shadow with respect to the direction and time:

To know more about SBI PO Syllabus, check at the linked article.

Example 4:

One morning after sunrise, Nandita and Ravi were sitting in a lawn with their backs towards each other. Nandita’s shadow fell exactly towards her left-hand side. Which direction was Ravi facing?

A. East

B. West

C. North

D. South

Solution:

Since it was morning and Nandita’s shadow fell exactly to her left-hand side, Nandita was facing North and hence Ravi should be facing South. Hence the answer is option D.

Topic 4: Correct map v/s Wrong map

This section involves the comparison of two maps among which one is definitely wrong. One has to find the correct direction in the wrong map by applying logical analysis.

Example 5:

At a crossing, there was a direction pole, which was showing all the four correct directions. But due to the wind, it turns in such a manner that now West pointer is showing South. Harish went in the wrong direction thinking that he was travelling East. In what direction he was actually travelling?

A. South

B. North

C. West

D. East

Solution:

To solve the question, let’s compare the correct map with the wrong one.

Correct map v/s Wrong map

Instead of West, it was South in the direction pole, therefore instead of North, East, and South, it will be West, North, and East respectively. Hence the correct answer is South option A.

To know more about SSC JE Syllabus, check at the linked article.

Topic 5: Directions in Clocks

All the pirates and travellers during the 16th and 17th Centuries used the compass as a navigation device which helped them in the discovery of the land that was unknown to mankind. The clocks were lacking the directional information as the main task of the clock was just to tell the time.

Adding the directions to the clock paved the way to the invention of many ideas in the future. The direction at which the number ‘12’ exists was considered as the North for the reference. And all the remaining directions were marked accordingly. Hence, the numbers ‘3’, ‘6’ and ‘9’ was considered to be at East, South, and West respectively.

North

South

Pictorial representation of clocks with all the directions

Example 6:

A clock is so placed that at 2:00 p.m. the minute hand points towards North-west. In which direction does the hour hand point at 6:00 p.m.?

A. North-West

B. West

C. North-East

D. South-East

Solution:

If the Minute hand is 12 which is North-West, then at 6.00 p.m. the hour hand will be pointing at the number 6. Since the number 12 and 6 are exactly the opposite. The opposite of North-West should be South-East. Hence option D is the correct answer.

To explore the SBI PO Syllabus, check at the linked article.

Topic 6: Directions in board games

In this section, the directional concepts are applied to the popular board games like Chess and Carrom board or Snake and ladder to solve the questions.

Example 7:

General placement of the chessboard

A chess piece undergoes following motion during the game. It starts from D-8, and reaches H-5, from there it reaches A-3, finally, it moves to the position H-8 and dies. In what direction the piece was when it died if chess board is assumed to be placed in front of you?

Solution:

The H-8 is the position where the chess piece died. If the chessboard is assumed to be placed in front of us, then the position H-8 will lie in between North and east. Hence the answer is North-East.

Example 8:

General placement of carrom board

P, Q, R, and S are playing a game of carrom. P, R, and S, Q are partners. S is to the right of R who is facing west. Then Q is facing?

A. North

B. South

C. East

D. West

Solution:

Since R is facing West and P is the partner of R P is facing East. Also, S is to the right of R, so S will be facing South and Q is the partner of S. Therefore Q will face North. Hence, option A is the correct answer.

To explore the IBPS Syllabus, check at the linked article.

Topic 7: Directions of Seating arrangement

This section involves the combination of directional logics with the seating arrangement.

Example 9:

J,K,L,M,N,O,P and R are eight huts. L is 2 km east of K. J is 1 km north of K and Q is 2 km south of J. P is 1 km west of Q while M is 3 km east of P and O is 2 km north of P. R is situated right in the middle of K and L while N is just in the middle of Q and M.

Distance between K and P is

A. 1.0km

B. 1.23 km

C. 1.41 km

D. 1.5 km

Solution:

Since K and p forms the diagonal of the right angle triangle KQP the distance between KP is 1.41 km. Hence, option C is the correct answer.

Distance between K and R is:

A. 1.41 km

B. 3 km

C. 2 km

D. 1 km

Solution:

Since R is in the middle of K and L which are 2 km apart. The distance between K and r is 1km. Hence, option D is the correct answer.

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