Gaurav walks 20 metres towards North. He then turns left and walks 40 metres. He again turns left and walks 20 metres. Further, h…

Question

Gaurav walks 20 metres towards North. He then turns left and walks 40 metres. He again turns left and walks 20 metres. Further, he moves 20 metres after turning to the right. How far is he from his original position?

1. A. 40 metres
2. B. 20 metres
3. C. 60 metres (Correct answer)
4. D. 30 metres

Correct Answer

Option C — 60 metres

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is 60 metres.

Key Points

• Let us trace Gaurav's path using directions.
• Starting at the origin, he walks 20 m North, then turns left (now facing West) and walks 40 m, then turns left again (now facing South) and walks 20 m — this brings him back to the same north-south level as his start, but 40 m to the west.
• Finally he turns right (facing West again) and walks 20 m more.
• So his net displacement is 40 m + 20 m = 60 m due west of his starting point (the two 20 m north and south moves cancel out).
• The straight-line distance from his original position is therefore 60 metres, making option (C) correct.

Additional Information

• Direction questions are fastest solved by sketching the path on paper, marking each turn, and reading the displacement off the sketch.
• Remember that a left turn rotates the heading anticlockwise: North → West → South → East → North.
• Where the path forms a right angle, the shortest distance back to the start is the hypotenuse, found with Pythagoras.