Note:

1) Read the statement line by line and apply the cases as explained below.
2) Position can be from either sides of row and rank is always from top or bottom of the row
Here, different types of ordering & ranking arrangement questions are explained below with the help of different
examples. By grasping each type, you can have a complete command over this topic and ensure 3-5 marks in your
kitty.
Type 1
1) Total number of persons = {(sum of positions of same person from both sides i.e. left and right side) 1}
OR
2) Position of a person from opposite side = {(Total no. of persons Position of same person from given side) +1}
E.g.1) In a row of persons, position of A from left side of the row is 27 th and position of A from right side of the
row is 34th. Find total no. of persons in the row?
Solution:
Total no. of students = (Position of A from left + Position of A from right) -1
Total no. of students = (27 + 34) 1 = 61 1 = 60
E.g. 2) In a row of 16 persons, position of A from left side of the row is 12 th. Find the position of A from right side
of the row?
Solution:
Position of A from right side = {(Total no. of persons Position of A from left side) + 1}
Position of A from right side = (16 12) + 1 = 4 + 1 = 5th
Type 2
1) Total no. of persons = No. of persons after or before the given person in a row + Position of same person from
the other side
OR
2) No. of persons after or before the given person in a row = Total no. of persons Position of same person from
other side
E.g.1) In a row of persons, position of A from left side of the row is 27 th and there are 5 persons after A in the row.
Find total no. of persons in the row?
Solution:
No. of persons in the row = Position of A from left + No. of persons after A
Total no. of persons = 27 + 5 = 32
E.g.2) In a row of 18 persons, position of A from left side of the row is 6 th. Find the no. of persons after A in the
row?
Solution:
No. of persons after A = Total no. of persons Position of A from left
No. of persons after A in the row = 18 6 = 12

Type 3
When the positions of two persons are given from opposite ends and we know the total number of persons, then
two cases arise when trying to determine the number of persons between these two persons
1.

When there is no overlapping: i.e. the sum of positions of the two persons from opposite ends < total
number of persons

2.

When there is overlapping: i.e. the sum of positions of the two persons from opposite ends > total number
of persons
Case i)
No. of students between two different persons = Total no. of students (Sum of positions of two different persons
from opposite sides)
E.g.1) In a row of 54 persons, A is 15th from the left side of the row and B is 20th from the right side of the row.
Find the no. of persons sitting between A and B?
Solution: Here Sum of positions of A & B from opposite ends = 15 + 20 = 35 < Total no. of persons
No. of persons between A & B = Total no. of students (Position of A from left + Position of B from right)
No. of persons between A & B = 54 (15+20) = 54 35 = 19
Case ii)
No. of students between two different persons = (Sum of positions of two different persons from opposite sides)
Total no. of students 2
E.g.1) In a row of 54 persons, A is 35th from the left side of the row and B is 22 nd from the right side of the row.
Find the no. of persons sitting between A and B?
Solution: Here Sum of positions of A & B from opposite ends = 35 + 22 = 57 > Total no. of persons
No. of persons between A & B = (Position of A from left + Position of B from right) Total no. of students 2
No. of persons between A & B = (35+22) 54 2 = 57 54 2 = 1
Type 4
If total no. of students is to be calculated and positions of different persons from any side are given then it is
always a case of cannot be determined or data inadequate or cant say. This is because we do not know if there
is overlapping or not.
E.g. In a row Position of A from left side of the row is 18 th and position of B from right side of the row is 25 th. Find
the total no. of students in the row?
Solution: Cannot be determined as position of different persons is given from the same side.
Type 5

Positions of two persons is given and their positions are interchanged and after interchanging position of
1st person is given from same side as before interchanging

Position of 2nd person from the same side as before interchanging = Position of 2 ndperson from same side
before interchanging + (Position of 1st person after interchanging position of 1st person before interchanging
from same side)

To find total no. of students Find the person whose position from both sides can be depicted from the
statement. Add both his positions from opposite ends and subtract 1.

To find no. of persons between them Difference in the position of common person whose position from
same side before and after interchanging is given then subtract 1
E.g. A and B are standing in a row of persons. A is 18 th from left side of the row and B is 24th from right side of the
row. If they interchange their positions A becomes 31 st from left. Find

1.

i) New position of B from right side

ii) Total no. of persons
iii) No. of persons between A & B
Solution:

1.

i) New position of B from right side = Position of B from right side before interchanging + (Position of A
from left side after interchanging Position of A from left side before interchanging)
New position of B from right side = 24 + (31 18) = 24 + 13 = 37 th
ii) Total no. of persons = (As position from right before interchanging + As position from left

before

interchanging) 1
Total no. of persons = (Bs position from right after interchanging + As position from left before
interchanging) 1
Total no. of persons = (24 + 31) 1 = 55 1 = 54
iii) No. of persons between A & B = (Position of A from left after interchanging Position of A

from left

before interchanging) 1
No. of persons between A & B = (31 18) 1 = 13 1 = 12
Type 6
If positions of two different persons are given from opposite sides of the row and a third person is sitting exactly
in middle of the two and total no. of persons in the row is to be calculated as
1.

i) When position of third person sitting is given from either side of row

2.

ii) When position of third person is given from either of the two persons between whom he/she is sitting

Then find the position of the 3rd person from both sides of the row and hence find total no. of persons according to
type 1
E.g. 1) In a row of persons, position of A from left side of the row is 9 th & position of B from right side of the row
is 8th.If C is sitting just in middle of A & B and position of C from left side of the row is 15 th. Find the total no. of
persons in the row?
Solution: Position of C from left is 15th and A from left is 9th so there are (15 9 1 = 5) persons are sitting
between A and C. As C is sitting in middle of A and B so there must also be 5 persons sitting between B and C.
Thus position of C from right = Position of B from right + 5 + 1 = 8 + 6 = 14 th
Total no. of students = (Sum of positions of C from both sides 1)
Total no. of students = (15 + 14) 1 = 29 1 = 28
E.g. 2) In a row of persons, Position of A from left side of the row is 11 th and B from right side of the row is 19th. If
C is sitting just in middle of A & B and position of C from A is 7 th. Find total no. of persons in the row?
Solution: Position of C from Left = Position of A from left + Position of C from A = 11 + 7 = 18 th
Given C is 7th from A and C is sitting in middle of A and B then also C is at 7 th position from B
Position of C from right = Position of B from right + Position of C from B = 19 + 7 = 26 th
Total no. of students = (Sum of position of C from both sides 1)
Total no. of students = (18 + 26) 1 = 44 1 = 43
Type 7
In the questions where it is asked to find minimum no. of persons in a row then it is always a case of overlapping
i.e. given positions of persons from either sides overlap each other.
Then
Minimum no. of persons = Sum of positions of persons from both sides Persons between them 2
E.g. If position of A from left side of a row is 15 th and position of B from right side of a row is 19 th and only 1
person is sitting in middle of A & B. Find the minimum number of persons that can be seated in this row?
Solution: Total no. of persons = 15 + 19 1 2 = 31
Type 8
These are ordering type questions. In this type of question, it is given that there are several people living in an nstorey building. Some information will be given about the relative positions of one above or below the other. You
need to find which floor each person lives on. These are almost similar to seating arrangement questions.
However, you may be required to apply the rules you learnt above, in these problems.
Input output
HOW TO SOLVE
These questions can be solved by the following methods:
1. We can solve these questions by writing each step of the given input on paper.

Remember do not write the complete word each time; to save time, just write the first letter or however
many letters of each word you need to uniquely identify it.
Example:
Input: 32 pure girl beautiful 49 63 78 random rickshaw
Label: 32

49 63 78

Ra

Ri

2. We could go for a shorter method where instead of writing each step again and again we number each word/number of
the input as per their position in each step. So if the arrangement follows a number-descending-from-left-and-lettersascending-from-right-alternately-pattern, we need to number these as follows:

Clearly the pattern is, send the biggest number left. In the next step, send the highest word right. Continue the pattern till
the input is completely rearranged.
To minimize the steps, let us look at all the elements on the basis of their positions. We only need to see the first two steps
and the output to figure out which number/word goes where. The order in which the element gets rearranged is the number
each element gets.
INPUT: 32
LABEL:

pure
6

girl
8

beautiful
9

49

63

78

rickshaw
2

random
4

Since 78 is the first element that will be rearranged according to the pattern, it will be labeled 1. The next element to be
rearranged will be rickshaw. So it will be labeled 2. The next element to be rearranged will be the next highest number. So
without even writing out the remaining steps you could label 63 as 3. And similarly random would become 4. And so on
and so forth.
While rearranging by this method, keep the following four cases in mind:
Case 1: When we go in single direction, i.e. words/digits are arranged either from left to right or right to left. In this
case, auto filling of words/digits could take place because some numbers/words arrange themselves. So how do we go
about numbering our elements in this case? For conveniences sake, let us think of all the elements being
arranged left to right.

1.

Number each word/number in the manner shown above as per their order of arrangement in
accordance with the pattern depicted in the question. Think of it as a step-by-step process. After
each numbering, you need to stop and check.

2.

After you identify the first element, number it (1). Then identify the second element. Check all
the elements to its left. Have you numbered all of them yet? If yes, then number this one (1a). If
not, then number it (2). Then identify the third element. Check all the elements to its left. Have you

numbered all of them yet? If yes, then this does not get a new step number. If no, then it gets a
fresh step number. And the process continues. Here is an illustration.

Step VII is the last step of the input

Q. Following the above pattern, how many steps will be required to complete the arrangement for the below given input?
84 out

sown

even

35

54

around 46

Solution:
Input: In the given illustration, the words/digits are being arranged in the following manner: the lowest digit is arranged at
leftmost of the sentence and all others are shifted to the right side as it is and in second step, highest word of dictionary is
arranged right of the previously arranged number and so on. The next higher digit and next highest word is arranged in
subsequent pair of steps.
Here is how you would go about numbering these elements. Note that underlined elements represent those ones to the left
that you havent numbered yet.

Here, 6a and 6b are not given further values as at the time of filling, as all elements to the left of these two have been filled
already. Hence, these two entities are arranged automatically in step 6. In addition, step 6 is the last step of the input, so six
steps are required to complete the arrangement.
NOTE: Now whichever step is asked in the question, take the part of the solution up to the required step number to get the
answer. Arrange the numbered elements according to their labels, and shift the remaining to the right, while leaving their
order unchanged.
NOTE: If the rearrangement is to be done from the right, the process of checking would be reversed. Now instead of
checking to the left, you would have to check to the right to see if there are any unnumbered elements.
Case 2: When we go in both directions, with elements filling in from the inside, auto filling could still take place. So we
need to take that into account when numbering. Based on which direction the element goes, it is numbered with an L (left)
or an R (right) attached to it. When considering items labeled with L, check to see if there are any unlabeled elements to its
left and when considering items labeled with R, check to see if there are any unlabeled elements to its right.

Step III is the final step of the rearrangement.

Q. Following the above pattern, how many steps will be required to complete the arrangement for the below given input?
goat out

34

59

set

75

peon

28

Solution:
Input: The rearrangement clearly happens from both directions simultaneously, but from the inside. The fact that the
rearrangement is happening from the inside makes a huge difference. The numbers are arranged in ascending order from
the left and the words are arranged in descending order of their appearance in the dictionary, but from the right.
Here is how you go about numbering these elements. Note that underlined elements represent those ones to the left of the
L elements that you havent numbered yet. And the italicized elements represent the ones to the right of the R elements
that you havent numbered yet.

Now, it is easy to answer the question based on the numbering. The answer is three steps.
Q. Following the above pattern, what will be the second step after rearrangement for the below given input?
goat out

34

59

set

75

peon

28

Solution:

The underlined elements represent the remaining elements unchanged in order.

Case 3: When we go in both directions with elements filling in from the outside, i.e. we place digits/numbers left to the
left most word/ right to the right most word. In this case, noauto filling of digits/numbers takes place i.e. each word is
numbered separately. Keep in mind the following:

1.
2.

Number of pairs of words/digits is equal to the number of steps.

Identify the pattern in the input rearrangement. Then number the elements going left in their
pattern order with 1L, 2L, 3L and so on. And number the elements going right in their pattern order
with 1R, 2R,3R and so on.

3.

There is no auto filling, so there is no need to check step by step. The numbering can be done
in one go.

STEP V is the last step of the input.

Q. Which is the 5th letter from right side in step V of the following input?
Input:

87

Label: 5L

when show 14

35

new

beat

ink

51

28

5R

3L

3R

1R

2R

4L

2L

4R

1L

Solution: In the given illustration, the words/digits being arranged in the following manner: in the first step, lowest digit
and lowest word in dictionary are placed at left most and right most side respectively, of the string and all other entities are
placed as it is. Then in the 2nd step, next lowest digit and word are arranged to the left and right of the previously arranged
digit and word simultaneously and so on. Therefore, arrangement is from left to left + right to right.
Here L1, L2 so on are used to represent left side and R1, R2 so on to represent right side.
Hence step 5 of the input is
Step 5: 87

51 35 28 14 beat ink new show when

So 5th from the right side is beat

NOTE: In this case 5th from right is not R5, but R1. So be careful while answering this type of question. Count backwards
from the highest number label of that step in such cases.
Case 4: In mixed form i.e. both case 1 and 2 are used in one input then both the rules are used for each side
NOTE: If pairing of words and digits/words and words/ digits and digits is observed i.e. both are placed simultaneously in
each step and in case if one is auto filled & other is not then no step is skipped.
Its a blessing to have these Time saving short Tricks for Input Output in Reasoning just when the exam is just few days
away. Share this knowledge with your fellow mates and let them also benefit from the same.