Distance and Direction - General Test Preparation for CUET

What is Direction?

Direction is the information contained in the relative position of one point with respect to another point without the distance information. Directions may be either relative to some indicated reference or absolute according to some previously agreed upon frame of reference.

Cardinal directions: The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are:

• North
• East
• South
• West

Their initials commonly denote these directions: N, E, S, W. East and West are at right angles to North and South, with east being in the clockwise direction of rotation from north and west being directly opposite east.

The intermediate directions of the four cardinal directions are:

• North – West
• North – East
• South – West
• South – East

Assumptions:

The direction of the top of the page is always considered as North unless specified in the question.

LEFT / RIGHT SIDE OF PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS

Example 1: Mr Deepak Mohan walks 5 km towards the south and then turns to the right. After walking 3 km he turns to the left and walks 5 km. What direction is he facing right now?

(a) West

(b) South

(c) North-East

(d) South-West

The correct answer is option (b)

The path traced by Deepak Mohan

The right and left movements are with respect to Mr. Deepak Mohan. After walking 5 km towards the South, he takes a right turn and now will be facing West. After walking 3 more km he turns left and walks 5 more km. Now he is facing South.

FINDING OUT DISTANCE:  The student is generally expected to find out the distance between the starting point and the Destination. And, we are expected to find out the shortest distance between the two points i.e. starting point and the Destination Point. To find out this distance, one should draw the diagram, which shows actual path followed by the person, along with the distance traveled by him. Finally, the starting point and Destination are joined by a straight line and distance is observed. For this we use Pythagoras theorem which is as follows:-

PYTHAGORAS THEOREM

RULES FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING SHADOWS:-

Example 2: One morning after sunrise, Nandita and Ravi were sitting in a lawn with their backs towards each other. Nandita’s shadow fell exactly towards her left-hand side. Which direction was Ravi facing?

(a) East

(b) West

(c) North

(d) South

The correct answer is option (d)

Solution:

Since it was morning and Nandita’s shadow fell exactly to her left-hand side, Nandita was facing North and hence Ravi should be facing South.