Ranking & Seating Arrangement • Topic 3 of 4

Circular Arrangement

People sit around a circle, usually facing the centre. When facing the centre, a person's LEFT is the clockwise neighbour and RIGHT is the anticlockwise neighbour — the reverse of intuition.

Facing the centre flips left and right

This is the single biggest trap in seating. When everyone faces the centre, a person's left hand points clockwise and their right hand points anticlockwise — opposite to a row.

A centre A's left
Facing the centre: A's LEFT is the clockwise neighbour. (Facing outward reverses this.)
Opposite seats. In a circle of n people, the person directly opposite seat k is seat k + n/2 (only when n is even). For 8 people, seat 1 faces seat 5.

✅ Solved examples

1. Facing the centre, who is to A's immediate left — the clockwise or anticlockwise neighbour?
The clockwise neighbour.
2. 4 people around a circle facing centre, A opposite C. If A is at 12 o'clock, C is at?
6 o'clock (directly opposite).
3. Facing centre, B is to A's right. Relative to A, B is on the?
Anticlockwise side.
4. If all face OUTWARD, a person's left is now the?
Anticlockwise neighbour (left/right flip).

✏️ Practice — try these, take hints as needed

1. Facing centre: immediate right neighbour is which way?
Opposite of left.
—
—
Anticlockwise
2. 6 around a circle, A at top — who is opposite (3 seats away)?
Halfway round.
—
—
The 4th person
3. Facing centre, C left of A means C is A's?
Clockwise.
—
—
Clockwise neighbour
4. Facing outward flips what?
Left/right.
—
—
Left and right
5. In a circle of 8 facing centre, person opposite seat 1 is seat?
+4.
—
—
Seat 5

📝 Topic test — 8 questions

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