Floor Arrangement Reasoning Puzzle for IBPS PO — 11 Sep 2026
The puzzle
Manish, Tarun, Lata, Rahul, Yash, Chetan — live on different floors — floor 1 is the lowest, floor 6 is the topmost. Using the clues below, work out the arrangement.
- There are exactly 3 floors between Tarun and Yash.
- Manish lives on the floor immediately above Lata.
- There are exactly 3 floors between Manish and Rahul.
- Yash lives on a floor somewhere above Manish.
- Manish and Chetan do NOT live on adjacent floors.
Question: Determine the arrangement.
Reveal the answer
Answer: Floor 6: Yash (top) down to Floor 1: Rahul (lowest).
- Start: 720 possible arrangements of 6 people.
- Clue 2 — "Manish lives on the floor immediately above Lata." narrows it to 120 possibilities. Board (top → bottom): _ · _ · _ · _ · _ · _
- Clue 1 — "There are exactly 3 floors between Tarun and Yash." narrows it to 16 possibilities. Board (top → bottom): _ · _ · _ · _ · _ · _
- Clue 3 — "There are exactly 3 floors between Manish and Rahul." ⇒ Manish → floor 5, Lata → floor 4, Rahul → floor 1, Chetan → floor 3 (2 possibilities left). Board (top → bottom): _ · Manish · Lata · Chetan · _ · Rahul
- Clue 4 — "Yash lives on a floor somewhere above Manish." ⇒ Tarun → floor 2, Yash → floor 6 (1 possibility left). Board (top → bottom): Yash · Manish · Lata · Chetan · Tarun · Rahul
- Exactly one arrangement survives every clue — that is the answer.
How to crack floor arrangement puzzles faster
- Floor puzzles are vertical rows — treat floor 1 as "leftmost" and floor N as "rightmost" in your mental model.
- "Lives above" means a higher floor number. "Immediately above" means exactly one floor apart.
- "Exactly k floors between" gives a fixed vertical gap — try it at each valid pair of floors.
- Write the floor numbers 1 to N on paper and fill names as you lock positions — the visual stack prevents errors.
FAQ
Who lives on the top floor?
Yash lives on the top floor. The full arrangement from top to bottom: Yash, Manish, Lata, Chetan, Tarun, Rahul.
How do you solve floor arrangement puzzles for bank exams?
Treat floors as a vertical stack: lock the topmost and lowest first, then place intermediate floors using 'above/below' clues. Transfer the stack to paper numbered 1 to N and fill names as each clue eliminates possibilities.
Learn the method for this puzzle type
This post is one worked example. The topic page for floor puzzles carries the full method, the clue-wording table, the mistakes that cost marks and more practice questions.
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