Direction Sense: Notes for IBPS PO & SBI PO

The one method: coordinates

Almost every direction question becomes routine if you place the starting point at (0, 0) and keep two running totals: how far east (positive) or west (negative), and how far north (positive) or south (negative). After the last move, the signs of the two totals give the direction and Pythagoras gives the distance. Drawing a rough sketch alongside helps you catch turning mistakes.

Turning left and right

Left and right depend on where the person is facing, not on the page. A right turn is a 90° clockwise turn; a left turn is 90° anticlockwise. Keep track of the heading after every turn before you add the next distance.

Shortest distance

The straight-line distance from start to finish is the hypotenuse of a right triangle whose legs are the net east–west and net north–south movements. Exams use clean right triangles, so knowing the common ones saves time.

Worked example: Ria walks 7 m west, turns right and walks 10 m, turns right and walks 15 m, then turns right and walks 4 m. Heading west then right gives north, then east, then south. Net east = -7 + 15 = 8 m; net north = 10 - 4 = 6 m. Distance = 10 m and she is to the north-east of the start.

Shadow questions

• Morning (after sunrise): the sun is in the east, so every shadow points west.
• Evening (before sunset): the sun is in the west, so every shadow points east.
• Find which side of the person the shadow falls on (front, back, left or right), then ask which facing direction puts west (morning) or east (evening) on that side.
• Example: in the evening a shadow falls behind a person. East is behind, so the person faces west.

Relative position of points

When several points are described ('B is 6 km north of A, C is 4 km west of B...'), give each point coordinates one by one. The direction of one point from another comes from the difference of their coordinates: a positive east difference and a negative north difference, for example, means south-east.

Renamed directions

Some questions say 'if north-west is called south...' and ask for the new name of another direction. Work out the angle between the old and the new name from the example, check it on the second example if one is given, and apply the same rotation to the direction asked. Example: if north becomes east, every direction is turned 90° clockwise, so south-west (225°) becomes north-west (315°).