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CAT 2020 Slot 2 — DILR Question 10

Mixed PracticeEasy
Passage / Data

Answer the next 4 questions based on the information given below.

A shopping mall has a large basement parking lot with parking slots painted in it along a single row. These slots are quite narrow; a compact car can fit in a single slot but an SUV requires two slots. When a car arrives, the parking attendant guides the car to the first available slot from the beginning of the row into which the car can fit.

For our purpose, cars are numbered according to the order in which they arrive at the lot. For example, the first car to arrive is given a number 1, the second a number 2, and so on. This numbering does not indicate whether a car is a compact or an SUV. The configuration of a parking lot is a sequence of the car numbers in each slot. Each single vacant slot is represented by letter V.

For instance, suppose cars numbered 1 through 5 arrive and park, where cars 1, 3 and 5 are compact cars and 2 and 4 are SUVs. At this point, the parking lot would be described by the sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. If cars 2 and 5 now vacate their slots, the parking lot would now be described as 1, V, V, 3, 4. If a compact car (numbered 6) arrives subsequently followed by an SUV (numbered 7), the parking lot would be described by the sequence 1, 6, V, 3, 4, 7.

Answer the following questions INDEPENDENTLY of each other.

Suppose eight cars have arrived, of which two have left. Also suppose that car 4 is a compact and car 7 is an SUV. Which of the following is a POSSIBLE current configuration of the parking lot?

Answer & solution

  • A

    8, 2, 3, V, 5, 7, 6

  • B

    8, 2, 3, V, 6, 5, 7

  • C

    V, 2, 3, 7, 5, 6, 8

  • 8, 2, 3, V, 5, 6, 7

Solution

Let us consider each option.

Option (a): 8, 2, 3, V, 5, 7, 6
Here, 5, 7, 6 is not possible since car 7 cannot take position between cars 5 and 6.

Option (b): 8, 2, 3, V, 6, 5, 7
There cannot be two parking slots between 3 and 5.

Option (c): V, 2, 3, 7, 5, 6, 8
Since 7 is an SUV, it cannot come in place of 4 which is a compact car.

Option (d): 8, 2, 3, V, 5, 6, 7
This is possible in the following sequence of arrival of cars.

I.    Cars 1 till 7 arrive one after the other. 1 2 3 4 (compact) 5 6 7(SUV)
II.    Cars 1 and 4 leave. V 2 3 V 5 6 7(SUV)
III.    Car 8 arrives. 8 2 3 V 5 6 7(SUV)

Hence, option (d).

CAT 2020 Slot 2 DILR Q10: Suppose eight cars have arrived, of which two have left. Also suppose that car 4 is a compact and car 7 is an — Solution | TheCATExam