Question

Directions:
Study the following information carefully and answer the questions that follow. Five friends - Rahul, Sameer, Tarun, Umesh and Vikas - are of different ages. (i) Tarun is older than Rahul but younger than Sameer. (ii) Umesh is younger than Rahul. (iii) Vikas is older than Sameer.

Who among the five friends is the oldest?

• A. Sameer
• B. Vikas
• C. Tarun
• D. Rahul

Hint:

Draw the 'older than' relations as arrows between names and look for the one person who never receives an arrow pointing at them.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Convert every clue into a directed "older than" arrow: Sameer > Tarun (from clue i), Tarun > Rahul (clue i), Rahul > Umesh (clue ii), Vikas > Sameer (clue iii).
Step 2: Build a simple relation graph and check each person for an "incoming" arrow, meaning someone else is stated to be older than them: Tarun has one from Sameer, Rahul has one from Tarun, Umesh has one from Rahul, and Sameer has one from Vikas.
Step 3: Vikas is the only person with no incoming arrow at all - nobody in any clue is said to be older than Vikas.
Step 4: Since "older than" is transitive, Vikas > Sameer > Tarun > Rahul > Umesh, confirming Vikas exceeds every other friend in age.
Step 5: This eliminates Sameer, Tarun and Rahul as options, since each of them has at least one person placed above them.
Correct option: Vikas