If a man walks 12m towards South then 5m to his Right and 5m again to his Right and again 15m towards Right.?

then find the distance from starting point to ending point?


Options are A. 3m B. 5m C. 4m


This is asked in an Interview.

If a man walks 12m towards South then 5m to his Right and 5m again to his Right and again 15m towards Right.?
The question is vague, and cannot be answered. But I suppose that's the point of this question if it's an interview question - they want to hear your thought process.





It's interesting you use the word "right" which makes the problem even more vague. For example, after he goes south, and starts walking to his "right" is he still facing south or is he now going to face west? I will assume he actually faces the direction he is going.





Obviously if you take a 2 dimensional plane, it makes no sense, because in total you walked 7m south and 10m east (which is about 12m from the starting point). But what if you walked on the globe (a sphere)? For example suppose you start on the north pole. Then you go 12m south, then 5m west then 5m north, then 15m east... you'll end up 7m from the northpole. The answer changes depending on where on the globe you are. If you're on the equator, you go 12m south, then 5m west, then 5m north, then 15m east, note that the 5m west traveled is NOT a third of the 15m east traveled in the opposite direction because the circumfrances are different.