Question

Ten friends, Matt, Sam, Pat, Tom, Sid, Alex, Kat, Jim, Jane and John, are having dinner at a rectangular table. Eight of them sit facing each other along the two long sides of the table, four on each side. The other two sit facing each other along the two short sides. Pat sits diagonally opposite Kat. Alex faces Jim. John sits to the right of Jane. Tom sits between Sam and Jim. Pat sits at the extreme left and Jane sits at the extreme right along the long side of the table. Sid faces Tom. Matt sits to the right of Sam.

Who are sitting diagonally opposite to each other?

• A. Sid and Tom
• B. Sam and Jane
• C. Alex and Jim
• D. Jane and Kat

Hint:

Diagonal pairs sit at opposite corners of the rectangle; facing pairs sit in the same seat number on each row.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

A quicker way is to picture the rectangle's four corners and match each option against those corner positions.

1. Sid and Tom: both sit in the second seat of their own row, directly opposite each other, which is a facing pair, not a corner-to-corner diagonal.
2. Sam and Jane: Sam occupies the left end corner of one row, and Jane occupies the right end corner of the other row. Opposite corners of a rectangle are always diagonal to each other, so this pair is diagonal, matching the same logic that makes Pat diagonal to Kat.
3. Alex and Jim: both sit in the third seat of their row, directly facing each other, so this is a facing pair, not diagonal.
4. Jane and Kat: both occupy the right end corners of their own rows, so they face each other straight across, not diagonally.

Only the two corners at opposite ends, Sam and Jane, give a true diagonal pair.