Instructions

A round table has seven chairs around it. The chairs are numbered 1 through 7 in a clockwise direction. Four friends, Aslam, Bashir, Chhavi, and Davies, sit on four of the chairs. In the starting position, Aslam and Chhavi are sitting next to each other, while for Bashir as well as Davies, there are empty chairs on either side of the chairs that are sitting on.

The friends take turns moving either clockwise or counterclockwise from their chair. The friend who has to move in a turn occupies the first empty chair in whichever direction (s)he chooses to move. Aslam moves first (Turn 1), followed by Bashir, Chhavi, and Davies (Turns 2, 3, and 4, respectively). Then Aslam moves again followed by Bashir, and Chhavi (Turns 5, 6, and 7, respectively).

The following information is known
1. The four friends occupy adjacent chairs only at the end of Turn 2 and Turn 6.
2. Davies occupies Chair 2 after Turn 1 and Chair 4 after Turn 5, and Chhavi occupies Chair 7 after Turn 2.

Question 25

What is the number of the chair initially occupied by Bashir?

Correct Answer: 4

Solution

Based on the information about the initial positions of Aslam and Chhavi sitting next to each other, while Bashir and Davies have empty chairs on either side of their seats, the possible combinations are,

This has 4 possible combinations.

We are also given that Davies occupies Chair 2 after Turn 1 and Chhavi occupies Chair 7 after Turn 2. We know that the positions of Davies and Chhavi won't be changing after turn 2, as we know that in those turns, only the positions of Aslam and Bashir are being changed in the first 2 turns. Therefore, we can determine that Davies' initial position is chair 2, and Chhavi's initial position is chair 7.

Out of the 4 possible combinations, Davies on chair 2 and Chhavi on chair 7 are only possible in one case, which is,