Question 1

Eight people—V, W, X, Y, Z, A, B, and C—live on floors 1 through 8 of a residential building. Based on the clues, who lives on floor 6?

Clue 1: V lives on floor 1.
Clue 2: W lives on floor 3.
Clue 3: X lives on floor 5.
Clue 4: Y lives on floor 7.
Clue 5: Z lives on floor 2.
Clue 6: A lives on floor 4.
Clue 7: B lives on floor 8.
Clue 8: C lives on the only remaining floor.

Accepted Answer

From the clues: V on 1, Z on 2, W on 3, A on 4, X on 5, Y on 7, B on 8. The only remaining floor is 6. By Clue 8, C lives on floor 6. Answer: C lives on floor 6.

Question 2

Four employees—A, B, C, and D—work on floors 2, 3, 4, and 5 of an office building. Using the clues, determine who works on floor 4.

Clue 1: A works on floor 2.
Clue 2: C works on a floor higher than B.
Clue 3: D works on floor 5.

Accepted Answer

From the clues: A is on floor 2 (Clue 1), D is on floor 5 (Clue 3). Remaining people are B and C on floors 3 and 4. C is on a higher floor than B (Clue 2), so B is on floor 3 and C is on floor 4. Answer: C works on floor 4.

Question 3

Six people—M, N, O, P, Q, and R—occupy floors 1 through 6 of a building. Based on the clues, who lives on floor 3?

Clue 1: O lives on floor 1.
Clue 2: M lives on an even-numbered floor.
Clue 3: N lives exactly one floor above O.
Clue 4: P lives on floor 5.
Clue 5: Q and R occupy the remaining two floors, with Q on a higher floor than R.

Accepted Answer

From the clues: O is on floor 1 (Clue 1), N is one floor above O (floor 2) (Clue 3), P is on floor 5 (Clue 4). M is on an even floor (Clue 2), so M is on floor 2, 4, or 6. Floor 2 is taken by N, so M is on floor 4 or 6. Q and R occupy the remaining floors with Q > R. Remaining floors are 3, 4, 6 (if M is on 4) or 3, 4, 6 (if M is on 6). If M is on floor 4, then Q and R are on floors 3 and 6, with Q on 6 and R on 3. If M is on floor 6, then Q and R are on floors 3 and 4, with Q on 4 and R on 3. In both cases, R is on floor 3. Answer: R lives on floor 3.

Question 4

Five friends—P, Q, R, S, and T—live on floors 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of an apartment building (one person per floor). Using the clues below, determine who lives on floor 5.

Clue 1: P does not live on floor 2 or floor 6.
Clue 2: Q lives on a floor higher than R.
Clue 3: S lives on floor 3.
Clue 4: T lives on floor 2.
Clue 5: R lives on floor 4.

Accepted Answer

From the clues: T is on floor 2 (Clue 4), S is on floor 3 (Clue 3), R is on floor 4 (Clue 5). Q is higher than R (floor 4), so Q is on floor 5 or 6. P does not live on floor 2 or 6 (Clue 1), so P is on floor 3, 4, or 5. Since floors 2, 3, 4 are taken by T, S, R, P must be on floor 5 or 6. But P cannot be on floor 6 (Clue 1), so P is on floor 5. This means Q is on floor 6 (the only remaining floor, and Q > R is satisfied: 6 > 4). Answer: P lives on floor 5.

Question 5

Five boxes — P, Q, R, S, and T — are stacked vertically on 5 different floors (1 to 5, where 1 is bottom and 5 is top). Each box contains a different number of items: 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50. Based on the clues below, how many items are in the box on floor 3?

1. The box on floor 1 contains 20 items.
2. R is on floor 2.
3. The box on floor 4 contains 10 more items than the box on floor 3.
4. S is on floor 5 and contains 50 items.
5. P is on floor 1.
6. Q is on floor 4.

Accepted Answer

From clues: P is on floor 1 with 20 items (clues 1, 5). R is on floor 2 (clue 2). Q is on floor 4 (clue 6). S is on floor 5 with 50 items (clue 4). This leaves T on floor 3. From clue 3: floor 4 has 10 more items than floor 3. Remaining item counts are 10, 30, 40. If floor 3 has 30, floor 4 has 40 ✓. If floor 3 has 40, floor 4 would need 50, but 50 is already on floor 5. If floor 3 has 10, floor 4 would need 20, but 20 is on floor 1. Therefore, floor 3 has 30 items.

Question 6

Seven people — A, B, C, D, E, F, and G — live in a building with 7 floors (1 being the lowest, 7 being the highest). Each person lives on a different floor. Based on the following clues, who lives on floor 4?

1. A lives on an odd-numbered floor.
2. B lives immediately above C.
3. D lives on floor 2.
4. E lives on floor 6.
5. F lives on a floor higher than E.
6. G lives on floor 1.
7. C lives on floor 3.

Accepted Answer

This is a straightforward deduction puzzle. From the clues: G is on floor 1 (clue 6), D is on floor 2 (clue 3), C is on floor 3 (clue 7), B is immediately above C so B is on floor 4 (clue 2), E is on floor 6 (clue 4), F is higher than E so F is on floor 7 (clue 5). This leaves A for floor 5, which satisfies clue 1 (A on odd floor). Therefore, B lives on floor 4.

Question 7

Eight people — P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, and W — live on 8 different floors (1 to 8, where 1 is lowest). Based on the clues below, who lives on floor 6?

1. P lives on floor 1.
2. Q lives on floor 3.
3. R lives on a floor higher than Q but lower than S.
4. S lives on floor 7.
5. T lives on floor 2.
6. U lives on a floor higher than S.
7. V lives on floor 5.
8. W lives on the only remaining floor.

Accepted Answer

From clues: P→1, T→2, Q→3, V→5, S→7. From clue 3: R is between Q (floor 3) and S (floor 7), so R ∈ {4, 5, 6}. Since V→5, R ∈ {4, 6}. From clue 6: U is higher than S (floor 7), so U→8. Remaining floors: 4, 6. Remaining people: R, W. If R→4, then W→6. If R→6, then W→4. From clue 3, R must be between 3 and 7, so R can be 4 or 6. Both satisfy the constraint. However, clue 8 says W lives on 'the only remaining floor,' implying there is a unique remaining floor after assigning others. If we assign P, Q, T, V, S, U first (floors 1, 3, 2, 5, 7, 8), remaining floors are 4 and 6. Clue 3 constrains R to {4, 6}. If the puzzle is well-defined, there should be a unique solution. Re-reading clue 3: R is strictly between Q and S. Floors 4, 5, 6 are between 3 and 7. Since V→5, R ∈ {4, 6}. Without additional constraints, both are valid. Assuming the puzzle intends R→4 (the first available floor higher than Q), then W→6. Answer: W on floor 6.

IBPS Clerk Floor-Based Puzzle

Floor-Based Puzzle— Rules & Concept

Key Points to Remember

Exam-Specific Tips

Floor-Based Puzzle — Practice Questions

60-Second Revision — Floor-Based Puzzle