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Tips to Solve Direction Sense Questions in Reasoning Section
DISTANCE AND DIRECTION
According to geography there are 8-directions:
4-cardinal directions North, South, East and West
4-subsidiary directions North-East, North-west, South-east, South-west

NORTH
NORTH-WEST

NORTH-EAST

WEST

EAST

SOUTH-WEST

SOUTH-EAST
SOUTH

DIRECTION OF RIGHT TURN: Clockwise

DIRECTION OF LEFT TURN: Anti-clockwise

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PYTHAGORAS THEOREM:
This theorem is sometimes needed to find out the distance covered by an individual in
the question.
It states that, in a right angled triangle the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the
square root of the sum of squares of the other two sides.

Where, H=Hypotenuse
X=Height
Y=Base
Therefore, according to the theorem H2 = X2 + Y2
i.e., H= (X2+ Y2)
IMPORTANT POINTS TO REMEMBER WHILE SOLVING DISTANCE-DIRECTION
QUESTION:
To know the directions on the plane of paper
To sketch out the directions as per the instructions in the question
To remember that on the surface of paper

The direction of right turn is always in the clockwise direction

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The direction of left turn is always in the anti-clockwise direction

The direction of North is upwards

The direction of South is downwards

The direction of East is to the right

The direction of West is to the left

To formulate a step by step analysis of directions and distances

To find the final direction or the distance between the starting and final point or
both

QUESTION:
Ajith walks 10km towards North. From there he walks 6km towards south, then he turns
left and walks 3km.
1) At what distance is Ajith from the original position?
(a) 7km

(b) 5km

(c) 3km

(d) 4km

2) In which direction is Ajith with reference to his starting point?

(a) North-East

(b) West

(c) South-East

(d) East

SOLUTION:
Take the starting point as A
Now, Ajith walks 10km towards North.
B
10km

A
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The point 10km to the north is taken as B, AB=10km
From there he walks 6km towards south i.e., from B Ajith walks 6km
downwards again.
B
6km
10km
C
4km
A
The point at 6km towards south is taken as C, such that BC=6km
So AC=4km [AB-BC=10-6=4]
then he turns left and walks 3km i.e., he turns in the anti-clockwise direction
from C i.e., towards east and walks 3km in the same direction
B
6km
10km

3km
C

4km
A
The point 3km in the east is taken as D, such that CD=3km and D is the end
point of the journey of Ajith

1) At what distance is Ajith from the original position?

(a)7km

(b) 5km

(c) 3km

(d) 4km

Starting point of Ajith is A

End point of Ajith is D
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Therefore, the distance of Ajith from the original position is the distance
between A and D
B
6km
10km

3km
C

4km

X
A

To find AD, Consider right angle triangle, ACD

AD = hypotenuse = X
AC = 4km
CD = 3km
By Pythagoras theorem, X2 = AC2 + CD2 = 42 + 32 = 16+9
X2 = 25
X = 25 = 5km
Therefore, distance at which Ajith is from the original position is 5km
ANSWER: (b) 5km
If the question was:
What is the total distance covered by Ajith?
Then the answer will be the sum of all the distances given in the question
irrespective of their directions.
i.e., 10km+6km+3km = 19km

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2) In which direction is Ajith with reference to his starting point?

(a) North-East

(b) West

(c) South-East

(d) East

Present position of Ajith is at D

Now, the direction in which Ajith is with respect to his starting point (A) is
asked
The answer is the direction in which point D is present with respect to point
A, which clearly is towards the North-East direction as per the final figure.
ANSWER: (a) North-East
If the question was:
In which direction is Ajith facing?
Then the answer would have been (d) East.
Direction faced by point D

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