 Useful Links

Direction
and
Distance

1
  Useful Links

Direction and Distance

There are four basic directions.

East, West, North and South

Generally, we consider north in upward direction.

Apart from that, 4 cardinal direction are there.

2
  Useful Links

Example:

P is to the east of Q. N is to the North of M. M is the west of Q

If someone is facing to north direction, his left is in west direction and his right is in East direction.

3
  Useful Links

Example:- If E is facing in south direction then which direction will be on his left?

His left is in East.

Example:- B is to the east of A. A is to the north of C. B is to the south of D

4
  Useful Links

Example:- B is to the south – west of A. A is to the north of C.

Key points to remember:

The direction of right turn is always in the clockwise direction.

The direction of left turn is always is on anti-clockwise direction.

The direction of North is to the upward side.

The direction of east is to the right.

Similarly, the direction of West is to the left.

Distance:- It is a numerical measurement of how far apart objects or points are.

Example – P is 20 m away from Q.

5
  Useful Links

This is nothing but the position of one with respect to other.

Let’s understand Direction – Distance together with an example.

A is 50 m to the West of B.

Example:- K is 10 m to the North of Q.

Two types of distance may be asked in exams

1) Shortest Distance

2) Total Distance

6
  Useful Links

Example:- M is 4m to the East of N. O is 5 m to the South of M. O is 8 m to the West of P. Find the

total and shortest distance between P and N.

Solution:- M is 4m to the East of N.

O is 5m to the south of M.

O is 8m to the West of P.

7
  Useful Links

Total distance between N and P is

MN + MO + OP

= 4m + 5m + 8m

= 17 m

Shortest distance will be find using Pythagoras theorem.

Pythagoras theorem:

The square of the hypotenuse is always equal to the sum of the square of the other two sides of the
right angle triangle.

Suppose we have a right angle triangle ABC with hypotenuse AC then

AC2 = AB2 + BC2

8
  Useful Links

Now, to find shortest distance, we will find total horizontal displacement first and then total vertical
displacement after then we will use Pythagoras theorem

Diagram for previous example –

K is a perpendicular point from N.

Horizontal Displacement = KO + OP

= MN + OP

= 4m + 8m

= 12 m

Vertical Displacement = KN = MO

=5m

Shortest Distance between N and P is NP and NKP forms a right angle triangle.

Using Pythagoras theorem,

NP2 = KN2 + KP2

= (5m)2 + (KO + OP)2

9
  Useful Links

= (5m)2+ (12m)2

= 25m2 + 144m2

= 169 m2

𝑁𝑃 = √169𝑚2 = 13𝑚

Hence, the shortest distance between N and P is 13m.

Clockwise Direction/Anti-clockwise Direction

Right turn → Clockwise

Left turn → Anti-clockwise

If any point or person turns in his left or right it directly means he turns in clockwise/anticlockwise
direction at an angle of 90o.

Question:– A point Q is turned his left and initially he was facing in East direction now in which di-
rection he is facing?

Q is facing initially in East direction consider the point is at N centre.

10
  Useful Links

Then he took a turn to his left now he will face in North Direction.

Question:- A person Z is facing in North Direction then he turns to his right with an angle of 45o,
then in which direction he is facing?

Solution:

From the diagram we can say, now he is facing is North – East direction

11
  Useful Links

Practice Questions:

Level 1
Question:-1.
P is 60 m South-East of Q. R is 60 m North-East of Q. Then R is in which direction of P?
1) North
2) North-East
3) South
4) South-East

12
  Useful Links

Solution:-

Clearly R is in North direction with respect to P.

Question:-2.
If a person moves 15km straight and turns 45km right and moves 15km right then how much dis-
tance he needs to walk to reach starting point?
1) 40
2) 60
3) 30
4) 45

Solution:-
Path taken can be traced as follow:

Clearly, to reach initial point we need to walk 45km.

13
  Useful Links

Question:-3.
If A is to the south of B and C is to the east of B, in what direction is A with respect to C?
1) South-West
2) North-West
3) South-East
4) North-East

Solution:-
Clearly, comparing the direction of A w.r.t. C in the second diagram with that in the first diagram, A
will be towards South-West of C.

Question:-4.
A boy starts walking from point A and walks 7 km towards east and stops at point B. Now, he turns
90° to his left and walks 5 km to reach a point C. Now, he takes 90° left turn and walks 7 km to
reach a point D. What is the distance between point A and point D?
1) 5km
2) 7km
3) 3km
4) 6km

Solution:-

14
  Useful Links

Thus, the distance between point A and point D is 5 km.

Question:-5.
Two cruisers start from the same port. Cruiser A sails 50 miles South, then it turns right and sails 60
miles. In the meanwhile, cruiser B sails 105 miles West, then it turns left and sails 50 miles, then it
turns West and sails 45 miles. Where is cruiser A with respect to cruiser B?

1) 210 miles East

2) 90 miles East
3) 90 miles West
4) 210 miles West

Solution:-

15
  Useful Links

Hence, answer is ’90 miles East’.

Level 2

Question:-1.
Shubham walked 10 meters towards East. He turned to his left and walked 25 meters. He again
turned towards his left and walked 10 meters. How far and in which direction is he now from his
starting position?
1) 35meters, South
2) 25meters, North
3) 15meters, North
4) 45meters, North

Solution:-

16
  Useful Links

Clearly, Shubham is 25m towards north direction from starting point.

Note: Here turning left side means going in anticlockwise direction.

Question:-2.
Four players P, Q, R and S are standing in a play field in such a way that Q is to the East of P, R is to
the South of P and S is to the North of P. In which direction of Q is S standing?
1) North
2) South
3) North-West
4) South-East

Solution:-

17
  Useful Links

Clearly, from the diagram, S is in the North - west of Q.

Question:-3.
Four airplanes of Air force viz, A, B, C and D started from a place for a demonstration flight towards
east. After flying 50 km planes A and D flew towards right, planes B and C flew towards left. After
50 km, planes B and C flew towards their left, planes A and D also flew towards their left. In which
directions are the airplanes A, B, D and C respectively flying now?
1) North, South, East, West
2) South, North, West, East
3) East, West, East, West
4) West, East, West, East

Solution:-

Hence, A and D are going toward east while B and C toward west.

Question:-4.
One day, Ravi left home and cycled 15 km southwards, turned right and cycled 5 km and turned
right and cycled 15 km and turned left 2 times and cycled 15 km each time. How many kilo meters
will he have to cycle further to reach his home straight?
1) 13km
2) 25km
3) 10km

18
  Useful Links

4) 20km

Solution:-
The path followed by Ravi is traced as follows,

Applying Pythagoras theorem:

FA2 = FB2 + AB2 = 202 + 152 = 400 + 225 = 625 = 252
So the distance between Ravi’s home and Ravi is, 25km.

Question:-5.
A man started walk from A i.e. 30 m towards west up to B. From B he takes a left turn and walks 10
m up to C. Further, from C he takes a left turn and walks 15 m till D. Finally, from D he moves in the
north direction for 12 m till E. Suppose a point J is taken on the midpoint of line AB and line DE so
determine the distance of AJ?
1) 45 m
2) 30 m
3) 15 m
4) 20 m

19
  Useful Links

Solution:-
Following diagrams shows the displacement of that man,

As in the diagram,
AB = 30 m
Also, CD = BJ = 15 m
Thus, AB = AJ + JB
30 = AJ + 15
AJ = 30 – 15 = 15 m
Thus, the distance of AJ is 15 m.

20
  Useful Links

Level 3

Question:-1.
Sanjay and Rajesh start at the same time from a point. Sanjay walks towards north at a speed of 60
km per hour for 7 minute then took right turn and walk for 5 km. Rajesh walks towards east at a
speed of 30 km per hour for 14 minute and then took left turn and walk for 5 km. What is the pre-
sent minimum distance between them?

1) 2.5 km
2) 2√2 km
3) 0 km
4) 4 km

Solution:-
Based on the information given direction diagram can be traced as shown below,
Speed of Sanjay
60 km per hour = 60 km in 60 minute
1 km in 1 minute
7 km in 7 minute
Speed of Rajesh
30 km per hour = 30 km in 60 minute
1 km in 2 minute
7 km in 14 minute

21
  Useful Links

The present minimum distance between Sanjay and Rajesh = AC

AC = √[(2)2 + (2)2]
Q1. AC = √8 = 2√2 km
Thus, 2√2 km is the answer.

Question:-2.
Sunil walks towards the East from point A, turns right at point B and walks the same distance as he
walked towards the East. He now turns left, walks the same distance again and finally makes a left
turn and stops at point C after walking same distance. The distance between A and C is how many
times to that of A and B?

1) One
2) Two
3) Three
4) Four

22
  Useful Links

Solution:-
Let, distance covered between A and B is m1 meter, then

Hence, Distance between A and C is twice of the distance between A and B = 2m

Question:-3.
Gyan cycles towards South-West for a distance of 6 m and stops there. Further he moves towards
East a distance of 10 m and from there he moves towards North-East a distance of 6 m. Next he
moves towards West a distance of 6 m. Now, he moves towards North-West a distance of 2 m.
Next, he moves towards West a distance of 4 m and then towards South-West 6 m and stops at
that point. Now, where is he from the starting point?
1) North
2) North-East
3) South-West
4) West

Solution:-
The path of Gyan can be traced as follows:

23
  Useful Links

Hence, Gyan is at the south - west direction from the starting point.

Question:-4.
A person starts from his office and goes towards his house. To reach his house, he has to follow the
following directions: Travel 5 km towards northeast from the office followed by 5 km towards
southeast; then travel 5 km towards southwest followed 5 km towards northwest. Approximately
how far is the office from his house (in km)?
1) 20
2) 5
3) 10
4) 0

24
  Useful Links

Solution:-

We can see that there is 0 km distance between Initial & Last point i.e. Home & Office.

Question:-5.
A student walked out from the Classroom towards the library. He went first to the canteen on the
left side, 24 ft. away. After a cup of tea, took a right turn and went to the Laboratory 13 ft. away. He
then went to the Physics Block, 15 ft. to the left he talked to a friend, in the garden 3 ft. on the left
and continued walking in the same direction to the Library, 10 ft. more. What was the actual dis-
tance between the Library and the Classroom?
1) 42 ft.
2) 65 ft.
3) 39 ft.
4) 34 ft.

Solution:-

25
  Useful Links

Hence, distance between library and Classroom is 39ft.

26