Reasoning - Ranking and Order

This type of problems demands an individual’s little bit understanding the rank of a particular person or a thing in a vertical or horizontal arrangement. Problems are asked on different variations and student must need to understand and practise well to solve those. In this tutorial we will discuss the various aspects of this ranking and order type of problems. Now let’s take a simple example and try to understand what exactly this chapter is.

Sample Example

Question −

Rank of Hari is 7^th from the top in a group of 30 students. What will be his rank from the bottom?

A - 23

B - 24

C - 25

D - 26

Answer − Option B

Explanation − No need to remember any formula to solve this type of question. Instead try to realise the things with a simple and small example. Now before moving on to the solution, let’s try to realise this with another small example.

Expand the five fingers of your left hand facing towards you and then rotate it in a 90 degree clockwise manner. Now, you start counting from the top and stop at position of 2nd finger. Now start counting from the bottom till reaching the same finger and you will stop counting with number 4.

That means in this type of arrangement, if the position of the certain thing is X among Y group of members from the top, then its rank from the below will be (Y - X) + 1.

Now apply the same logic over the above question. The rank of Hari is 7^th from the top. Total number of students is 30. Now the rank of Hari from the bottom will be (30 - 7) + 1 = 24.

Well there are different types of ranking and order problems. We will discuss some of the basic types that are being asked often in various competitive examinations. After completely understanding this types, students are advised to go through the quiz and then the exercise to become well acquainted with the subject.

Type-I

This is the normal ranking problems that come often in the exams. Rather you can see these type of questions is the basics. Let’s take an example to understand it better.

Question − If the rank of Shyam is 4 from the bottom of the list that contains 30 students, find his rank from the top.

A - 26

B - 27

C - 28

D - 29

Answer − Option B

Explanation − The rank of Shyam can be found out by the general procedure that we have adopted in the previous example i.e.

(30 - 4) + 1

= 27

Questions of this type does not require much time. Rather they are time saving and one must attain them to score more marks in less time.

Type-II

In this type, we will discuss about those questions that will involve ranking of more than one person. Questions will be based upon the linked answer that can be solved by correctly analysing the question. Let’s understand this better through an easy example.

Question −

In a queue, from the front the rank of Karthik is 10^th while from behind the rank of Ajay is 25^th. Sovu is present in the middle of the two. It is given that the total number of persons is 50. Then determine the rank of Sovu from the front.

A - 17

B - 19

C - 18

D - 20

Answer − Option C

Explanation − Let’s find the total number of persons present between Karthik and Ajay = 50 - (10 + 25) = 15

Sovu lies in between these 15 persons. That means we can conclude that from Karthik’s position, she will be at 8^th and 18^th from the front end.