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 is sitting to the immediate right of Jim?

• A. Sam
• B. Jane
• C. Alex
• D. Tom

Hint:

People facing across the table have their own right and left reversed compared to how the row reads on paper; use the Matt-Sam clue to fix that direction first.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

A different way to see this is to first fix the direction rule from a clue we already trust, then apply it directly to Jim.

1. Sam: Sam sits two seats away from Jim in the row (Sam, Tom, Jim, Kat), so Sam is not adjacent to Jim at all.
2. Jane: Jane sits on the opposite row entirely, so she cannot be immediately next to Jim.
3. Alex: Alex sits directly across the table from Jim, facing him, which is a "facing" neighbor, not a "right hand side" neighbor.
4. Tom: The clue "Matt sits to the right of Sam" only works if people on this row, who face across the table, have their own right hand pointing toward the end of the row where Matt sits. Applying that same rule to Jim, his right hand points toward the adjoining seat on that same side, which is Tom's seat.

Using the direction rule confirmed by the Matt and Sam clue, Jim's immediate right is Tom.