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Confusing, Ambiguous and Puzzling Statements in Reasoning Puzzles

and Seating Arrangement for Bank and Insurance Exams

Confusing Statements in Puzzles

SBI PO involves a plethora of sets based on logical reasoning that are confusing and if you do not have your
basics right then you might get stuck with the questions and will end up wasting your time on a question
that might be correctly solved by you and can get you 5-6 marks.

To help you get out of this conundrum, Testzone offers you with the basics of these questions in the form
of Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statements in Puzzles to make you understand what each statement
accurately means. A regular practice of such statements and questions will provide you an edge over the
competitors. So, let’s get started:

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 1 (Two Floor

Above)
P is two places above Q

Here, the statement says that P is “2” places above Q that means we have to place Q in the second gap
below P. The common mistake that candidates do is that they leave 2 boxes between P and Q, which is
wrong. You can count 2 places starting from P.

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 2 (Two Floor

Below)
P is two places below Q

Q
 P

The statement says that P is “2” places below Q that means we have to place Q in the second gap above P.
The common mistake that candidates do is that they leave 2 boxes between P and Q, which is wrong.

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 3:
There is only 1 person between P and Q

P Q

Q P

This is the kind of statement that has been talked about above. We have to leave the number of boxes
equal to number of people between P and Q. when the statement says ‘x’ number of people between P and
Q, simply leave ‘x’ boxes between them.

Similarly for Floors:

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 4 (Three Floor

Above)
P lives three floors above Q

When the statement says ”3 places above Q”, start counting upwards from Q and mark the 3rd floor with P.
people tend to leave 3 floors between them and end up messing the question.

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 5 (Three Floor

Below)
P lives three floors below Q

If the statement says ”3 places below Q”, start counting downward from Q and mark the 3rd floor with P. we
do not have to leave 3 places between them.

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 6:
There are 2 floors between P and Q

Case-1 Case-2
P Q

Q P

Here, it is important to understand that only the no. of people between P and Q are given and their order is
not specified so, we cannot decide specifically which one of them is above and who is below. This case
requires careful consideration and two cases can be formed here:

P is above Q, which is shown in Case 1, and

Q is above P, which is shown in Case 2.

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 7:
The number of floors between P and Q is same as the number of floors between X and Y
 Case-A Case-B
P P
X
Q Y
Y Q

In this statement we only know that the no. of floors P and Q is same as the no. of floors between X and Y,
but how many floors are there between either of them is not known. Thus, there can be 1 or 2 people
between X and Y because there are a total of 8 places and 4 places have to be occupied by P, Q, X, Y.
Further, the position of X, Y and P, Q cannot be determined precisely so we can form 2 cases:

Case A - 1 floors between them

Case B - 2 floors between them

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 8:
The number of floors between P and Q is 1 more than the number of floors between X and Y.

Case-1 Case-2
P P

X Y
Q
Y Q
X

As explained above, here also the no. of people between either of them is not known. We can try different
no. of floors between P and Q and will derive the corresponding no. of floors between X and Y. let us
assume there are ‘x’ floors between X and Y, then no. of floors between P and Q will be ‘x+1’.

No. of floors between No. of floors between

P and Q (x+1) X and Y(x)

Case-1 2 1
Case-2 3 2

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 9:
P lives above Q

Case-1 Case-2 Case-3 Case-4 Case-5

8 8 8 8 8 P
7 7 7 7 P 7
6 6 6 P 6 6
5 5 P 5 5 5
4 P 4 4 4 4
3 Q 3 Q 3 Q 3 Q 3 Q
2 2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1 1

This one is a tricky one and is often confused with ‘P lives immediately above Q’. The statement here says
that P lives above Q but nowhere does it says ‘immediately’. This means that if Q is at 1st floor, P can be at
any of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th. The table below shows possible positions of A wrt positions of Q.

Position of Q Corresponding Position of P

8 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
7 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
6 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5 4, 3, 2, 1
4 3, 2, 1
3 2, 1
2 1

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 10:

P lives immediately above Q

8
 7
6
5
4 P
3 Q
2
1

As the statement says, we have to place P ‘immediately’ above Q. The no. of cases possible here are
comparatively lesser.
Corresponding
Position of P
Position of Q
8 7
7 6
6 5
5 4
4 3
3 2
2 1

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 11:

At least 2 people live above P

Case-1 Case-2 Case-3 Case-4 Case-5 Case-

8 8 8 8 8 8
7 7 7 7 7 7
6 P 6 6 6 6 6
5 5 P 5 5 5 5
4 4 4 P 4 4 4
3 3 3 3 P 3 3
2 2 2 2 2 P 2
1 1 1 1 1 1

The candidates often get confused with such statements. Keep in mind that at least 2 means equal to or
more than 2, i.e., 3, 4, 5, and so on. We have to consider each case and arrive at the one that best fits.

Here as there are 8 total floors and P has at least 2 floors above him so he can be at 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1. Note
that P cannot come on 7th or 8th floor.

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 12:

There are not more than 2 floors above P

Case-1 Case-2 Case-3

8 8 8 P
7 7 P 7
6 P 6 6
5 5 5
4 4 4
3 3 3
2 2 2
1 1 1

The statement means that P can have at most 2 floors above him and not more than that but he can have
less than 2 above him. So P can be on 6th or 7th or on 8th floor. Note that no other position is possible for P
besides these.

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 13:

P lives between Q and R

Case-1 Case-2 Case-3

8 8 8 R
7 7 7
6 6 6 P
5 5 5
4 4 R 4
3 R 3 P 3
2 P 2 2
 1 Q 1 Q 1 Q

This statement is often confused with ‘exactly between Q and R’. Here, it is nowhere mentioned that P is
immediately between Q and R so if Q is at 1st floor and R is at 4th then P can be either on 2nd or on 3rd.
Similarly if Q is at 1st and R is at 8th then P can be on any of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7th floor.

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 14:

P lives exactly between Q and R

Case-1 Case-2 Case-3

8 8 8 R
7 7 7
6 6 6
5 5 R 5 P
4 4 4
3 R 3 P 3
2 P 2 2 Q
1 Q 1 Q 1

This statement says P lives ‘exactly’ between Q and R and it means that P is equidistant from Q and R. the
table below shows possible positions of P, Q and R:
Position of P Position of Q Position of R
2 1 3
3 1 5
4 1 7

For Days and Months:

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 15:

P was born 2 days after Q

Sunday
Monday Q
Tuesday
Wednesday P
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

This statement means that P is born 2 days from Q. We could start counting from Q and mark the 2nd day
for P. Note that you do not have to leave 2 days between P and Q but only 1.

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 16:

P was born 3 months/days before Q.

Months
Days
January
Sunday P
February P
Monday
March
Tuesday
April
Wednesday Q
May Q
Thursday
June
Friday
July
Saturday
April

Similar to the above statement, start counting from Q and mark the 3rd month or day for P. You have to
leave only 2 days/ months in between.

Confusing Statement in Linear Sitting

Arrangement:

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 17:

P is two places away from Q
 Case-1

Case-2

Here, the statement says that P is “2” places away from Q that means we have to place Q in the second gap
away from P. It means there is only one person sitting between P & Q.

Confusing Statements in Circular Sitting

Arrangement:

Puzzle/Ambiguous/Confusing Statement 18:

P is second to the left of Q

Here, “Second to the left” means you should start where you are and count two places left of that place.
This does not mean that there should be two place between P and Q.

Confusing Statements using followed by /

preceded by:
In a college, four subjects- Physics, Chemistry, Math and Biology are being taught on three different days -
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at three different times. Study the table and answer the following
questions.

9:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM

Monday Physics Maths Chemistry
Tuesday Maths Physics Biology
Wednesday Biology Maths Physics

Q1. On Monday, Physics is followed by Math? (True / False)

Ans. True.

Explanation:

P is followed by Qmeans P comes first and then it is followed by Q. It can also be written as Q follows P.

Thus, On Monday, the first lecture is of Physics then it is followed by lectures of Math and Chemistry.

In simple words, we can say that the lecture of Math follows Physics or in passive voice it can be written as
Physics is followed by Math.

Q2. On Tuesday, Physics is preceded by Math? (True / False)

Ans. True.

Explanation:

P is preceded by Q, it means Q precedes or comes before P. Thus in passive form it is written as P is

preceded by Q.

Thus, we can see from the table that the last lecture on Tuesday is of Biology, thus it is preceded by the
lecture of physics and the lecture of Physics is preceded by that of Math.

Thus in simple words we can say that Math precedes Physics or in passive voice it can be written as
Physics is preceded by Math.