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 is exactly in the middle when the five friends are arranged from oldest to youngest?

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

Hint:

For each friend, count how many others they are definitely older than - the middle person in a group of five will have exactly two people below them.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: From the chain of clues, the full transitive order is Vikas > Sameer > Tarun > Rahul > Umesh.
Step 2: Instead of just reading off the middle name, compute for each person how many others they are definitely older than (their "older-than count"): Vikas is older than Sameer, Tarun, Rahul and Umesh, so his count is 4. Sameer is older than Tarun, Rahul and Umesh, count 3. Tarun is older than Rahul and Umesh, count 2. Rahul is older than only Umesh, count 1. Umesh is older than nobody, count 0.
Step 3: With 5 people, the exact middle person (2 people older, 2 people younger) must have an older-than count of exactly 2.
Step 4: Only Tarun has a count of 2, confirming he is the middle person, with Vikas and Sameer above him and Rahul and Umesh below him.
Step 5: This eliminates Rahul (count 1), Sameer (count 3) and Vikas (count 4).
Correct option: Tarun