Question

Directions for Questions 97 to 101: A company launches eight products, Q, R, S, T, V, W, Y and Z, in one of the four metros of India. The products are launched one after another over a period of six months in 2006. The order of launch follows these conditions:

• V is launched before both Y and Q.
• Q gets launched after Z.
• T gets launched before V but after R.
• S gets launched after V.
• R gets launched before W.

Q98. If Z is the seventh product to be launched, then which one of the following could be true?

• A. W is the fifth product to be launched.
• B. T is the fourth product to be launched.
• C. R is the second product to be launched.
• D. V is the sixth product to be launched.

Hint:

Since Z is seventh, work out where Q is forced to go first, then check how much room is left for the R-T-V-S chain along with W and Y in the remaining slots.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Eight products, Q, R, S, T, V, W, Y and Z, launch one after another under five rules: V comes before Y and before Q, Q comes after Z, T comes before V but after R, S comes after V, and R comes before W. We are told Z is launched seventh, and need to find which listed outcome could be true.

1. W is the fifth product to be launched: Seating W here forces the R-T-V-S chain and Y to crowd into the leftover slots in a way that cannot be completed once Z is fixed at seven and Q is pushed to eight, so this fails.
2. T is the fourth product to be launched: With T fourth, V and S are pushed to positions five and six, leaving only positions one through three open, all of which sit before V. Since Y has to come after V, it has nowhere to go, so this option breaks down.
3. R is the second product to be launched: Z at seven pushes Q to eight. The remaining chain, R before T before V before S, together with R before W and V before Y, still leaves enough room across positions one through six to open with an unconstrained product, place R second, and fit T, V, W, S and Y into the rest without breaking a single rule.
4. V is the sixth product to be launched: If V is sixth, both S and Y need a slot after position six, but positions seven and eight are already taken by Z and Q, so neither can be placed. This fails too.

Only the arrangement with R second survives every check once Z is fixed at seven.

Let's summarize:

• Z at seven forces Q to eight, since Q always follows Z.
• Both T fourth and V sixth leave no legal slot for Y, or for S and Y together.
• R second is the only placement that keeps every one of the five rules satisfied.

So R being the second product launched is the outcome that could be true.