Question:medium

This group of questions is based on a set of conditions. In answering some of the questions, it may help to draw a rough diagram. Choose the response that most accurately and completely answers each question.

A circular field, with an inner radius of 10 meters and an outer radius of 20 meters, was divided into five successive stages for ploughing. The ploughing of each stage was handed over to a different farmer.
1. Farmers are referred to by the following symbols: F1, F2, F3, F4, F5.
2. The points between different stages of the project are referred to by the following symbols: P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, not necessarily in that order.
3. Farmer F5 was given the work of ploughing the stage starting at point P4.
4. The stage from point P5 to point P3 was not the first stage.
5. Farmer F4 was given the work of the fourth stage.
6. Stage 3 finished at point P1, and the work of it was not given to farmer F1.
7. Farmer F3 was given the work of the stage ending at point P5.

Which stage was ploughed by farmer F5?

Show Hint

Chase the stage-to-point chain from the fixed Stage 3 to P1 clue; F3 ends up with Stage 1, F4 with Stage 4, which leaves Stage 5 as the only stage that starts at P4, matching F5's clue.
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
  • First
  • Second
  • Third
  • Fifth
Show Solution

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Work with the farmer clues directly instead of the point-chain first.
Condition 5 hands Stage 4 to F4 outright. Condition 7 hands F3 whichever stage ends at P5. Condition 6 fixes Stage 3 as ending at P1, which is a different point from P5, so F3 is definitely not doing Stage 3.

Step 2: Figure out which stage can end at P5.
Condition 4 blocks Stage 1 from being the 'P5 to P3' stage, meaning Stage 1 is not the stage that STARTS at P5. But nothing stops Stage 1 from being the stage that ENDS at P5, and testing this placement keeps every other clue consistent (Stage 2 then becomes the P5-to-P3 stage, which condition 4 allows since Stage 2 is not Stage 1). So F3's stage, ending at P5, is Stage 1.

Step 3: Fill in the rest of the chain.
Stage 2 runs P5 to P3 (from Step 2). Stage 3 then starts at P3 and, from condition 6, ends at P1. Stage 4 (F4's, from condition 5) starts where Stage 3 ends, at P1.

Step 4: Match F5's 'starts at P4' clue to a stage.
Condition 3 says F5's stage starts at P4. Since Stage 1 (F3), and Stage 4 (F4) are already assigned and neither starts at P4, and Stage 2 / Stage 3 start at P5 and P3 respectively, none of Stage 1 through Stage 4 starts at P4. By elimination, the only stage left, Stage 5, must be the one that starts at P4, matching F5's clue exactly.

Final Answer:
Farmer F5 ploughed the Fifth stage. \[ \boxed{\text{Fifth}} \]
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