Linear Seating Arrangement

• How to read a row arrangement (left-to-right order) and answer position, neighbour, and counting questions accurately.
• Counting position "from the left" vs "from the right" without mixing them up.
• Handling a "facing south" twist, where left and right are reversed compared to facing north.

1. Position from an end — count 1, 2, 3... starting at that end.
2. Position from the right in a row of N = N − (position from left) + 1.
3. Immediate neighbour — the person directly next to someone, one seat away.
4. Facing direction matters — if people face south instead of north, their own left/right is the reverse of the usual left-to-right reading direction.

Six friends sit in a row facing north, left to right: P, Q, R, S, T, U. Who sits third from the right?

Step 1 — row has 6 people
Step 2 — "third from right" = position (6 - 3 + 1) = 4 from the left
Step 3 — 4th from left in P,Q,R,S,T,U is S
Answer: S

• Confusing "from the right" with "from the left" — always convert using N − position + 1.
• Forgetting that "facing south" reverses which side is a person's own left or right.
• Miscounting how many people are strictly between two named people (not including the two people themselves).

• In a row of 7, if someone is 2nd from the left, what position are they from the right?
• Row: A, B, C, D, E. Who is immediately to the left of D?
• If two people swap seats, how does that change who sits at a given position?

Open the Practice tab for graded questions on Linear Seating Arrangement.