IBPS PO Reasoning: Puzzle Reasoning questions with solutions

Q1. Ten friends namely Anurag, Sahil, Vipin, Rohit, Mayank, Dheeraj, Jalaj, Puneet, Deepak and Prateek have birthdays in different months, viz. January, February, April, May and June, but not necessarily in the same order. Their birthdays are on two different dates, 12 and 23. So in each month there are two birthdays. Vipin's birthday is on 12th May. Two people have birthdays between Vipin and Mayank. Rohit's birthday is on 12th February. Anurag's birthday is on 12th April and exactly between the birthdays of Mayank and Deepak. Prateek and Puneet have birthdays in the same month but not in April. There is one birthday between the birthdays of Dheeraj and Puneet. Dheeraj's birthday is before Puneet's. Sahil's birthday is in January. Birthdays of Dheeraj and Sahil are not in the same month. Jalaj and Anurag have birthdays on the same date. Jalaj's birthday is before Anurag's, and their birthdays are not in consecutive months. Which of the following pair has birthday on 23rd of a month?

1. Sahil, Prateek
2. Jalaj, Anurag
3. Rohit, Mayank
4. Sahil, Deepak

Answer: Sahil, Deepak

The clues fix several birthdays on the 12th and establish relative positions among the months. Using the conditions about Mayank, Deepak, Dheeraj, Puneet, and Jalaj, the only pair that fits the 23rd date is Sahil and Deepak. Hence, that pair has birthdays on 23rd of a month.

Q2. Direction: Read the following information carefully and answer the question below. Five people Pam, Andy, Farah, Manu, and Neha were born in five different years 1940, 1953, 1966, 1976, and 1996, but not necessarily in the same order. Each person was born in a different city: Mumbai, Bhopal, Noida, Kolkata, and Chennai. Their age is calculated from the year 2020. Andy was born ten years before Neha. The person who was born immediately before the one who was born in Kolkata. Pam, who was born in Bhopal, was neither born in 1940 nor 1953. Andy was not born in Kolkata. Manu's age is not divisible by 2. The person born in a leap year is not specified. Farah is not born in Mumbai. Whose age is a prime number?

1. Farah
2. Andy
3. The one who was born in Kolkata.
4. Neha

Answer: The one who was born in Kolkata.

By applying the year difference, city restrictions, and the condition on Manu's age, the arrangement becomes constrained enough to identify the person born in Kolkata. The age of that person is prime, while the others do not satisfy the prime condition.

Q3. Passage: Input: 376824 943875 584762 758493 843642 395648 Step I: 386925 842865 594863 657483 742632 405749 Step II: 387006 842929 594944 657547 742681 405830 Step III: 184880 721842 203694 423554 71248 4003 Step IV: 248 400 424 2064 2842 84880 Step V: 128 160 124 464 6042 48880 Step VI: 33 21 21 42 28 140 New Input: 478269 835264 712386 384561 532649 784678 What is the sum of the first two numbers in Step VI?

1. 0
2. 30
3. 46
4. 22

Answer: 22

The given steps follow a fixed multi-stage number transformation pattern. Applying the same pattern to the new input yields the first two numbers in Step VI as 11 and 11, whose sum is 22.

Q4. Six persons P, Q, R, S, T, and U visited different countries: Russia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, France, and China. They attended a meeting on two different dates, either 11 or 22, in three different months: September, October, and November of the same year. All the information is not necessarily in the same order. P attended two persons before the one who visited Japan. At least three persons attended after P. Only two persons attended between P and S. The number of persons who attended before S is the same as the number of persons who attended after the one who visited Russia. U attended immediately after the one who visited China. U neither visited Japan nor the Netherlands. R attended on an odd-numbered date but after P. T neither visited Russia nor Japan. Q attended immediately before the one who visited France. How many persons attended before the one who visited China?

1. Two
2. Three
3. Four
4. One

Answer: Two

The clues about P, S, and the person who visited Japan fix the attendance order. Using the immediate-after relation for U and China, the China visitor is placed such that exactly two persons attended before them. Hence the answer is two.

Q5. Eight persons are born in 1979, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2005 and 2013. Ages are calculated as of 2024. E is five years older than I. The difference between N and H's ages is one more than the difference between K and E's ages. S's age is a prime number. L's age is four more than twice I's age. H is older than I but younger than R. The difference between H and E is the same as the difference between E and S. Question: Who is the youngest person?

1. K
2. S
3. L
4. I

Answer: S

After converting the given birth years to ages in 2024, the relations among E, I, H, N, K, and S force S to take the smallest valid age among the assigned persons. Hence, S is the youngest person.

Q6. Eight friends Deepak, Mani, Pankaj, Joe, Prince, Neetu, John, and Raghu were born in different years: 1978, 1985, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1996, and 1999, but not necessarily in the same order. No two friends were born in the same year. Each of them likes a different fruit: Guava, Orange, Pineapple, Banana, Kiwi, Litchi, Peach, and Grapes, but not necessarily in the same order. Pankaj is eight years older than the one who likes Pineapple but was not born in 1983. The one born in an even-numbered year does not like Orange. John is not the eldest among all. The one born in 1991 does not like Orange. The one who likes Kiwi was born one year before Prince. The one born before 1985 likes Peach. Joe likes Grapes and is older than three persons. The one who likes Guava is eight years younger than Joe. The age difference between Mani and Deepak is three years. Neetu and the one who likes Banana were born in consecutive years, and Neetu is the elder of the two. Deepak does not like Guava. Who is the eldest among Joe, Pankaj, Deepak, and Neetu?

1. Pankaj
2. Joe
3. Deepak
4. Neetu

Answer: Neetu

The clues about Joe being older than three persons and the age gap relations among Mani, Deepak, and Pankaj help determine the relative order. After completing the arrangement, Neetu is found to be the eldest among the four given persons.

Q7. Ten boxes are placed in a cupboard such that the bottom box is numbered 1, the box immediately above it is numbered 2, and so on, with the topmost box numbered 10. Four boxes are placed between J and K, and K is placed at an odd-numbered position. Box K is placed below box J. Box M is placed below box K. Two boxes are placed between K and L, and L is placed immediately below box Q. Box B is placed below box M. Box Q is placed at the 7th position. Box I is placed at an even-numbered position but above box P. Box A is placed immediately above box R. Which box is placed at the bottom?

1. J
2. K
3. I
4. इनमें से कोई नहीं

Answer: इनमें से कोई नहीं

With Q fixed at position 7, the clues force K, L, M, and B into lower positions and J into a higher one. None of J, K, or I can be placed at the bottom while satisfying all conditions, so the bottom box is not among the first three options.

Q8. Seven employees Raman, Priya, Sunny, Pooja, Sneha, Riya and Parul are going to attend a seminar on 1 February 2017 and live on seven different floors of a building, but not necessarily in the same order. The lowermost floor of the building is numbered 1 and the topmost floor is numbered 7. Each of them works in a different company, viz. TCS, Infotech, HCL, Softech, Microsoft and Wipro. Each person's birth year is different, i.e. 1982, 1989, 1991, 1998 and 1978, but not necessarily in the same order. The person whose year of birth is 1989 lives on an even-numbered floor but not on the second floor. Only three persons live between Raman and the one who works in Softech, and their age difference is 8 years. Pooja lives on an even-numbered floor but not below the floor on which Parul lives, whose year of birth is 1989. Only three persons live between Sunny and the one who works in Infosys. Sunny lives below the floor on which Sneha lives, who is the youngest of all of them. Sunny works in Infotech. The one who works in HCL was born in 1989. Priya lives on the lowermost floor and works in TCS. Riya works in Wipro but was not born in 1991. The age difference between the person who works in HCL and Sunny is 17 years. The one who works in Microsoft was not born in 1986. Which of the following statements is true?

1. Sunny's year of birth is 1986.
2. Parul lives on the odd-numbered floor.
3. Riya works in Wipro.
4. Priya lives on the topmost floor.

Answer: Riya works in Wipro.

This is a multi-layer floor arrangement puzzle involving floors, companies, and birth years. Using the fixed clues, the only statement that remains consistent in the final arrangement is that Riya works in Wipro.