Start here · the first lesson of Single row, facing one direction
Single row, facing one direction
Linear Arrangement · for IPMAT Indore, IPMAT Rohtak and JIPMAT
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The idea
People (or cars, books, bulbs) sit in one row, all facing the same way, usually north, so their left and right are ours. Clues give exact gaps (third to the right, two between), ends and neighbours. Rohtak asked a car row in 2020 (Q18-19) and JIPMAT a nine-friend row in 2026 (Q11) and a stack of books in 2023 (Q23); a stack is a row turned upright (top = right end).
Textbook vs exam method
Textbook method
- Draw n seats and number them from the left.
- Place the clue that fixes a seat (an end, the middle, "third from the left").
- Add the exact-gap clues that touch a placed person; build blocks for the others.
- Fill the last seats with the negative clues ("not at an end", "not next to") and check every clue.
Exam method
- Anchor. the end or middle clue first.
- Blocks. "J is next to O, O is third to the left of K" is one block J O _ _ K.
- Two cases. if a block can sit in two places, draw both rows; the next clue usually removes one.
- Answer from the final row,. writing it once at the top of the page.