Reasoning - Direction Sense

These are direction-based reasoning questions. We have to judge the exact direction and then have to answer accordingly. Questions are direction-based means that they give information upon a movement of a person in certain direction for a particular distance. We have to judge the direction and distance of the person from the starting point.

The questions on logical sense test or direction sense test are designed to examine the candidate’s ability to sense direction by using pen and paper. In these types of questions normally there is data given about a person who is travelling in different directions and finally we have to calculate either the total distance travelled by the person or distance between final and initial position or the direction of the person from his initial position.

Questions on direction sense test are simpler than other questions that come in reasoning part and if a candidate has the right-hand side trick to solve it then he/she can score maximum in this section. To know the right-hand side trick first right-hand side knowledge should be there about the directions on paper. Confusion may be created in the questions as it is frequently asked about simultaneous left-hand side and right-hand side turns to a specific direction or movement in different degrees. So students are, therefore, advised to use the diagram as given below for clarification about the directions on paper.

The top of the paper is always referred as the north direction and right-hand side of the paper is always east direction. The opposite of north or the bottom side of the paper is south and left-hand side of the paper is referred as west direction. The direction between north and east is north-east direction, south and east is south-east direction and so on.

Question 1 − Ram started from his home and moves in eastward direction. After walking some distance he turned to his right-hand side and walked, after walking some distance he turned to his left-hand side and walked. After some time he has taken two simultaneous left-hand side ward movement and after walking some distance he again taken two left-hand side movements simultaneously. Now he is facing to which direction. All the turns are 90 degrees.

Options −

A - East

B - West

C - North

D - South

Answer − Option A

Explanation − First Ram started walking to east then he took a right-hand side turn. Now he is facing south. After walking some distance, he turned left-hand side so after turning now he is facing east. After this, he has taken two left-hand side movement simultaneously so now he is facing towards west direction. And finally after walking some distance he has again moved to his left-hand side twice so finally after his all movements, he is currently facing towards east direction.

Question 2 − Krishna is going to a local market place for grocery. He has taken his cycle and from home started moving to north. He went for 10 km. After that he turned 90 degrees to his left-hand side and cycled for 6 km. After that he again moved 90 degree to his left-hand side and cycled for 18 km. Now he has reached the market place. What is distance between Krishna’s home and market place and he is in which direction from his home?

Options −

A - North-east, 15 km

B - North-west, 12 km

C - South-west, 10 km

D - South-east, 10 km

Answer − Option C

Explanation − The distance between Krishna’s house and the market place can be found out by using Pythagoras theorem 82 + 62 = 102. The direction in which Krishna is standing is south-west direction from his home. First he cycled towards north for 10 km and he turned towards his left-hand side and after that he turned his left-hand side and walked for 18 km. so finally he is in south-west direction because by walking 18 km he has surpassed his 10 km. So the correct answer is option C.

Question 3 − Pirnakanti walks 500 m to east and reaches Lata’s house. From there she walks towards north for 1000 m to reach his gym. His gym is in which direction of his home and what is the total distance travelled by Pirnakanti?

Options −

A - North, 1 km

B - West, 2 km

C - North-east, 1.5 km

D - North-west, 1.5 km

Answer − Option C

Explanation − First Pirnakanti has walked for 500 m and then he has walked for 1000 m, so in total he has walked for 1500 m or 1.5 km. Pirnakanti first walked to east direction and after some time she has turned left-hand side and walked for 1000m towards north direction. So now she is currently in north-east direction from her earlier position. Hence option C is correct.

Question 4 − Salim started to move in the direction of west in an open field and stopped after moving 5km. Now he turned to his left-hand side and moved 15 km. How much minimum distance he has to cover to reach his starting point?

Options −

A - 25km

B - 20km

C - 30km

D - 15km

Answer − Option D

Explanation − Here we have to apply the Pythagoras theorem to get the answer. We will take square of each number i.e. 5 and 15. The square of both the numbers are 25 and 225 respectively. We will add them and result of addition is 250. Finally we will take the square root of the number and the final result is 15.08km. So the minimum distance here is 15km. Hence the option D is correct.