Reasoning Tips –Floor Based/Month Based Puzzles

Life is not always about making the right choice, but it is always about eliminating the wrong choices. To solve any puzzle series, we have to apply this rule. Puzzles have become the most preferred question by the examiner to test the student’s ability to analyse and solve the given data accurately. Even though the data might look limited, but it is sufficient to answer each question. Nowadays, Floor based/Month based questions have gained a lot of popularity in various bank exams. The key to solving such puzzles is by considering all the possible outcomes and eliminating the undesired ones. So, let’s look at few examples to solve them.

(Q No’s 1-5)Study the following information and answer the questions.

Seven people P, Q, R, S, T, U and V have a seminar on seven different months of the same year namely January, February, March, June, August, October and December but not necessarily in the order. Each of them also likes a different fruit namely Banana, Grapes, Papaya, Orange, Mango, Litchi and Apple but not necessarily in the same order.
R has a seminar in a month which has less than 31 days. Only two people have a seminar between R and S. The one who likes banana has a seminar immediately before S. Only one person has a seminar before the one who likes Papaya. Only three people have a seminar between Q and the one who likes Mango.
T likes neither Mango nor Papaya. P has a seminar immediately before T. V likes apple. The one who likes Grapes has a seminar in the month, which has less than 31 days. The one who has a seminar in March does not like Orange.

Solution

STEP-1: Make a tabular column and arrange the months in ascending or descending order. For considering all the possible outcomes, draw additional columns. Initially, fill the table with the data which is clearly mentioned in the given passage. Always try to fill in data sequentially as mentioned in the passage. After filling the table with clearly mentioned data, fill the remaining gaps by considering all the possible cases. There will be only one possible outcome which will follow all the rules given in the passage.

• Here, we can eliminate outcome-2 because it is not satisfying the condition- “The one who likes Banana has a seminar immediately before S”.
• When stated that only person-A has seminar before person-B, it means that A has seminar before all the persons available in the class and B is the person giving his seminar -2nd. So, in this case, the one who likes Papaya will be giving the seminar in the 2nd month. (Focus on the word only).
• The person T has many possible positions. But if we join the condition that P should have seminar immediately before T, the even the outcome-1 gets eliminated.

After finding the position of T, every other gap in the table can be filled easily. 

Q1) Which of the following represents the month in which S has a seminar?
a) January
b) Cannot be determined
c) October
d) December
e) June

Q2) Which of the following represents the people who have a seminar in January and June, respectively?
a) V,S
b) U,S
c) Q, T
d) V, R
e) U, R 

Q3) How many people have a seminar between the months in which V and R have a seminar?
a) None
b) Two
c) Three
d) One
e) More than three

Q4) As per the given arrangement, R is related to Banana and Q is related to Orange following a certain pattern, which of the following is V related to following the same pattern?
a) Mango
b) Litchi
c) Apple
d) Papaya
e) Grapes

Q5) Which of the following fruits does U like
a) Orange
b) Papaya
c) Mango
d) Banana
e) Grapes

Answers

1. d) December 

2. d) V, R 

3. b) Two 

4. b) Litchi 

5. b) Papaya

(Q No’s 6-10) Study the following information and answer the questions

K, L, M, N, O, P, Q and R live on eight different floors of a building but not necessarily in the same order. The lowermost floor of the building is numbered one, the one above that is numbered two and so on till the topmost floor is numbered eight. Each of them also likes a different superhero namely, Batman, Superman, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Wolverine, Nova and Ironman, but not necessarily in the same order.

• The one who likes Thor lives on an even numbered floor. Only three people live between the one who likes Thor and M.
• Only two people live between M and N. N does not live on the lowermost floor. Only three people live between N and the one who likes Hulk.
• Olives immediately above K. Olives on an even numbered floor. K does not like Hulk. K lives neither on floor numbered 3 nor 5.
• Only two people live between K and the one who likes Nova and Ironman. The one who likes Ironman lives below the one who likes Nova.
• L lives immediately above Q. Only one person lives between Q and the one who likes Captain America.
• The one who likes Wolverine lives immediately above the one who likes Batman.
• P does not like Thor. K does not like Superman.

Solution

 As I have mentioned before, first build a table with many columns for considering all the possible outcomes. The table should be formed by taking the floors in descending order as mentioned in the passage. Fill the table with the data which is clearly mentioned in the passage.

     

        

• The next point says that- “Olives immediately above K. Olives on an even numbered floor. K does not like Hulk. K lives neither on floor numbered 3 nor 5”. So, Case-1 will again be sub-divided into two cases because it has two possibilities for the position of K and O.
• In case-1 & 2, since the person who likes two superheroes cannot stay in the same room, that both cases are eliminated.

   

   

In case-4, K is left with only Superman; so that case should be eliminated.

Q6) Four of the following five are alike in a certain way as per the given arrangement and so form a group. Which of the following does not belong to that group?
a) K- floor numbered five
b) Q-floor numbered 6
c) L- floor numbered six
d) N- Floor numbered seven
e) R - floor numbered eight

Answer: -floor numbered 6 does not belong to that group because all others have one-floor gap between them.

Q7) Which of the following superheroes does R like?
a) Other than those given as options
b) Superman
c) Nova
d) Thor
e) Batman

Q8) Which of the following superheroes does P like?
a) Ironman
b) Wolverine
c) Batman
d) Captain America
e) Other than those given as options 

Q9) N lives on which of the following floor numbers?
a) Five
b) Three
c) Seven
d) One
e) Other than those given as options

Q10) As per the given arrangement, P is related to Nova and N is related to Wolverine in a certain way. To which of the following is M related to in the same way?
a) Superman
b) Batman
c) Captain America
d) Thor
e) Hulk

Answers

6. b) Q-floor numbered 6

7. d) Thor 

8. e) Other than those given as options 

9. a) Five 

10. c) Captain America 

(Q No’s 11-15) Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given below:

A, B, C, D, K, L and M live on seven different floors of a building but not necessarily in same order. The lowermost floor of the building is numbered one, the one above that is numbered two and so on till the topmost floor is numbered seven. Each one of them also likes a different game, namely Snooker, Badminton, Chess, Ludo, Cricket, Hockey and Polo ( but not necessarily in the same order)
Only three persons live between B and K. B lives on one of the floors above K. K does not live on the lowermost floor. Only one person lives between B and the one likes Chess. The one who likes Polo lives on one of the even-numbered floors above the one who likes Chess.
Only two persons live between M and the one who likes Chess. The one who likes Snooker lives immediately above M. A lives immediately above L. A does not like Chess.
The one who likes Ludo lives on one of the odd numbered floors below L. M does not like Ludo. D lives on one of the floors above C. Only one person live between the one who likes Cricket and the one who like Cricket. M does not like Badminton.

Solution: 

STEP-1: Arrange the floors in descending order. Read the passage line by line sequentially and then fill the table with the data which is clearly mentioned. Consider all the possible outcomes. To fill in the gaps, read the passage once again.

Case-1(a) is eliminated because the one who likes snooker cannot live above the 7th floor.
There are two possible positions for L & A since A should live immediately above L.But the next sentence suggests that A does not like chess.

In case-1(b), after following all the conditions, at the end, M is left with the sport – Badminton which does not support the passage. So, it is eliminated.

Q11) Which of the following games does B like?
a) Snooker
b) Ludo
c) Polo
d) Badminton
e) Chess

Q12) Who among the following lives on the floor numbered 4?
a) The one who likes Hockey
b) The one who likes Chess
c) A
d) L
e) B

Q13) Which of the following statements is true with respect to the given arrangement?
a) Only two persons live between K and M
b) The one who likes Hockey lives immediately above K
c) C likes Chess
d) C lives on an even numbered floor
e) None of the given options is true

Q14) If all the persons are made to sit in alphabetical order from top to bottom, the position of how many people will remain unchanged?
a) None
b) Three
c) Two
d) One
e) Four

 

Q15) Which of the following combinations is True with respect to the given arrangement?
a) Polo-C
b) Ludo-B
c) Cricket-K
d) Chess-L
e) Snooker-A

Answers

11. d) Badminton 

12. a) The one who likes Hockey 

13. a) The one who likes Hockey lives immediately above K

14. c) Two 

15. d) Chess-L