An arrow rotates 90 degrees clockwise each step: up, right, down, left, then up again… Priya…
An arrow rotates 90 degrees clockwise each step: up, right, down, left, then up again... Priya thinks this cycle repeats every 3 steps. Her brother says it repeats every 4 steps. Who is right?
Who do you think is right? Pick one.
The answer: Her brother is right, it repeats every 4 steps
Why
It's easy to miscount a repeating cycle by eye without listing every position carefully. Write out the actual sequence of directions in order: up (step 1), right (step 2), down (step 3), left (step 4), up again (step 5) — the arrow only returns to 'up' after 4 steps, not 3. A full turn is 360 degrees, and each step is a 90-degree turn, so 360÷90 = 4 steps make one complete cycle back to the start — this matches the listed sequence exactly. Test it: try listing out 8 steps by hand (up, right, down, left, up, right, down, left) — 'up' appears at positions 1 and 5, four steps apart, every time, never three. Her brother is right: the cycle repeats every 4 steps, matching a full 360-degree turn made of four 90-degree turns.
On Socho, you explain your thinking out loud and a coach asks about YOUR reasoning — one question a day, free, in Hindi, Hinglish or English.
Try a question on Socho →More disagreements in Patterns and Sequences