GATE CS 2017 Set 1 Q.58 (GA Q.58): Analytical and Logical Reasoning

Rahul, Murali, Srinivas and Arul are seated around a square table. Rahul is sitting to the left of Murali. Srinivas is sitting to the right of Arul. Which of the following pairs are seated opposite each other?

Rahul and Murali

Srinivas and Arul

Srinivas and Murali

Srinivas and Rahul

Official answer and solution

Official answer: C
From: Official GATE 2017 answer key

Solution

Model the seating arrangement around the square table using cyclic relative positions.

Four people (Rahul, Murali, Srinivas, Arul) sit around a four-sided square table, all facing inwards towards the center.

Let us assign positions clockwise as 1, 2, 3, 4:

Place Murali at seat 1. Facing inward, the seat to Murali's left is clockwise, which is seat 2. Thus, Rahul is at seat 2.
"Srinivas is sitting to the right of Arul": Facing inward, a person's right is counterclockwise. If Arul is at seat 4, the seat to Arul's right is seat 3. Placing Srinivas at seat 3 and Arul at seat 4 satisfies this condition.

Now check opposite pairs (seats $k$ and $k+2$ are opposite):

Seat 1 (Murali) is opposite Seat 3 (Srinivas).
Seat 2 (Rahul) is opposite Seat 4 (Arul).

Among the options:

(A) Rahul and Murali: adjacent
(B) Srinivas and Arul: adjacent
(C) Srinivas and Murali: opposite each other
(D) Srinivas and Rahul: adjacent

Hence, Srinivas and Murali are seated opposite each other.

Final answer

The answer is the one in the official GATE answer key. The solution is this site's own explanation.

Source

Paper: GATE 2017 Computer Science and Information Technology (CS) Session 1
Question: 58 of 65, printed as GA Q.58
Section: General Aptitude

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