Circular Seating Arrangement Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The pairs sitting opposite each other are CD and ts.

Number the seats 1 to 5 from west to east. The girls face north, so a girl's right is east; the boys face south, so a boy's left is east. C is just right of A and A is at an end, so A is in seat 1 and C in seat 2, and t, opposite C, is in seat 2. q is just to the left of s, so q sits one seat east of s, opposite E. B and r are diagonally opposite, at opposite ends of the two rows. If s and q took seats 4 and 5, E would be at seat 5 and B could not be at an end, so s is in seat 3, q and E in seat 4, r in seat 1 and B in seat 5. That leaves p in seat 5 and D in seat 3.

C and D sit side by side in seats 2 and 3, directly facing t and s in the same seats. AC faces rt, not sp, and the pair CD does not face rt.

D also faces s and B faces p, but D and B are not neighbours (E sits between them), and neither are s and p (q sits between them), so 'DB and sp' are not pairs sitting opposite each other in the sense the question uses, of two neighbours facing two neighbours.

Answer: A

The person third to the right of C is B.

Number the seats 1 to 5 from west to east. The girls face north, so a girl's right is east; the boys face south, so a boy's left is east. C is just right of A and A is at an end, so A is in seat 1 and C in seat 2, and t, opposite C, is in seat 2. q is just to the left of s, so q sits one seat east of s, opposite E. B and r are diagonally opposite, at opposite ends of the two rows. If s and q took seats 4 and 5, E would be at seat 5 and B could not be at an end, so s is in seat 3, q and E in seat 4, r in seat 1 and B in seat 5. That leaves p in seat 5 and D in seat 3.

C faces north, so her right is east, towards seats 3, 4 and 5. Counting three places from seat 2 reaches seat 5, which is B.

D (seat 3) is first to her right and E (seat 4) second; A is on her left, not her right.

Answer: C

The diagonally opposite pair is Ap.

Number the seats 1 to 5 from west to east. The girls face north, so a girl's right is east; the boys face south, so a boy's left is east. C is just right of A and A is at an end, so A is in seat 1 and C in seat 2, and t, opposite C, is in seat 2. q is just to the left of s, so q sits one seat east of s, opposite E. B and r are diagonally opposite, at opposite ends of the two rows. If s and q took seats 4 and 5, E would be at seat 5 and B could not be at an end, so s is in seat 3, q and E in seat 4, r in seat 1 and B in seat 5. That leaves p in seat 5 and D in seat 3.

A sits at seat 1 in the girls' row and p at seat 5 in the boys' row, the two opposite ends of the arrangement, as B and r are.

C and t both sit at seat 2 and E and q both at seat 4, so those pairs face each other directly rather than diagonally. D (seat 3) and p (seat 5) are neither directly nor diagonally opposite.

Answer: B

The person is p.

Number the seats 1 to 5 from west to east. The girls face north, so a girl's right is east; the boys face south, so a boy's left is east. C is just right of A and A is at an end, so A is in seat 1 and C in seat 2, and t, opposite C, is in seat 2. q is just to the left of s, so q sits one seat east of s, opposite E. B and r are diagonally opposite, at opposite ends of the two rows. If s and q took seats 4 and 5, E would be at seat 5 and B could not be at an end, so s is in seat 3, q and E in seat 4, r in seat 1 and B in seat 5. That leaves p in seat 5 and D in seat 3.

After the interchanges, C and D swap seats 2 and 3, p and t swap seats 2 and 5, and q and E swap rows at seat 4. The girls' row reads A, D, C, q, B and the boys' row r, p, s, E, t, each person taking the direction of the row they sit in.

D is now in seat 2 facing north, so second to her right is seat 4, where q sits. Opposite q is E, now in the boys' row facing south, whose right is west. Second to the right of E is seat 2, which is p.

r is third to E's right, one place too far; E is the person opposite q, not the answer; and C is in the girls' row, nowhere near E's right.

Answer: B

Correct answer: G

All eight face the centre, so each person’s left is the next seat clockwise and their right the next seat anticlockwise.

Place K; F sits two to K’s left and M two to K’s right. H, the Scientist, must be beside K, and E four seats from H - and of the two ways of doing that, only one lets the Engineer sit two seats from E without being G or J, who must be neighbours. The Columnist then sits on the Engineer’s right, the Lawyer two to the Columnist’s right, the Financial Analyst on F’s left, the Professor beside the Engineer, and the Chartered Accountant two seats from G.

Clockwise the table reads K (Professor) → H (Scientist) → F (Doctor) → G (Financial Analyst) → J (Lawyer) → E (Chartered Accountant) → M (Columnist) → L (Engineer).

Counting two seats to E’s right - anticlockwise - gives J and then G, the Financial Analyst.

Answer: D

Correct answer: K

All eight face the centre, so each person’s left is the next seat clockwise and their right the next seat anticlockwise.

Place K; F sits two to K’s left and M two to K’s right. H, the Scientist, must be beside K, and E four seats from H - and of the two ways of doing that, only one lets the Engineer sit two seats from E without being G or J, who must be neighbours. The Columnist then sits on the Engineer’s right, the Lawyer two to the Columnist’s right, the Financial Analyst on F’s left, the Professor beside the Engineer, and the Chartered Accountant two seats from G.

Clockwise the table reads K (Professor) → H (Scientist) → F (Doctor) → G (Financial Analyst) → J (Lawyer) → E (Chartered Accountant) → M (Columnist) → L (Engineer).

The Professor must sit beside the Engineer, L. Of L’s two neighbours one is the Columnist M, so the Professor is K.

Answer: C

Correct answer: J - Engineer

All eight face the centre, so each person’s left is the next seat clockwise and their right the next seat anticlockwise.

Place K; F sits two to K’s left and M two to K’s right. H, the Scientist, must be beside K, and E four seats from H - and of the two ways of doing that, only one lets the Engineer sit two seats from E without being G or J, who must be neighbours. The Columnist then sits on the Engineer’s right, the Lawyer two to the Columnist’s right, the Financial Analyst on F’s left, the Professor beside the Engineer, and the Chartered Accountant two seats from G.

Clockwise the table reads K (Professor) → H (Scientist) → F (Doctor) → G (Financial Analyst) → J (Lawyer) → E (Chartered Accountant) → M (Columnist) → L (Engineer).

In Chartered Accountant–H, M–Doctor, Financial Analyst–L and Lawyer–K the two named sit directly opposite each other, four seats apart. J and the Engineer are only three seats apart, so that pair does not belong.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Second to the right

All eight face the centre, so each person’s left is the next seat clockwise and their right the next seat anticlockwise.

Place K; F sits two to K’s left and M two to K’s right. H, the Scientist, must be beside K, and E four seats from H - and of the two ways of doing that, only one lets the Engineer sit two seats from E without being G or J, who must be neighbours. The Columnist then sits on the Engineer’s right, the Lawyer two to the Columnist’s right, the Financial Analyst on F’s left, the Professor beside the Engineer, and the Chartered Accountant two seats from G.

Clockwise the table reads K (Professor) → H (Scientist) → F (Doctor) → G (Financial Analyst) → J (Lawyer) → E (Chartered Accountant) → M (Columnist) → L (Engineer).

The Scientist is H. Counting two seats to his right - anticlockwise - gives K and then L.

Answer: A

Correct answer: The Lawyer is second to the left of the Doctor

All eight face the centre, so each person’s left is the next seat clockwise and their right the next seat anticlockwise.

Place K; F sits two to K’s left and M two to K’s right. H, the Scientist, must be beside K, and E four seats from H - and of the two ways of doing that, only one lets the Engineer sit two seats from E without being G or J, who must be neighbours. The Columnist then sits on the Engineer’s right, the Lawyer two to the Columnist’s right, the Financial Analyst on F’s left, the Professor beside the Engineer, and the Chartered Accountant two seats from G.

Clockwise the table reads K (Professor) → H (Scientist) → F (Doctor) → G (Financial Analyst) → J (Lawyer) → E (Chartered Accountant) → M (Columnist) → L (Engineer).

The Doctor is F; two seats to his left - clockwise - gives G and then J, the Lawyer, so that statement holds. Of the others: E and the Financial Analyst G have J between them; H sits between K and F, not between F and the Financial Analyst; and the Columnist M and F have three people between them either way round.

Answer: D

Correct answer: G

Four face outward and four face the centre, so “left” and “right” must be read from each person’s own seat: facing the centre, the left is clockwise; facing outward, the left is anticlockwise.

E faces outward, so H two seats to E’s right and B three to E’s left are placed at once - and B can only be three seats to H’s right if H too faces outward. D faces the centre with both neighbours facing outward, which rules out every seat but one, and F must then sit beside D. Of the seats left, C and G must be neighbours, which forces A into the seat beside E, with G two to A’s left and C beyond.

Clockwise the circle reads E → A → H → G → C → B → F → D, with E, H and F facing outward and A and D facing the centre.

H faces outward, so his right is the next seat clockwise, and G occupies it. A is on H’s left.