MadeEasy Test Series: General Aptitude - Numerical Ability

Question

A milestone on Kalka Kasauli road read ‘19’ on the side facing the cyclist and ‘21’ on the reverse side. He reasoned that the next milestone on the way forward would read ‘20’ and ‘20’ on both sides. However, to his utter dismay, he noticed that the next milestone read ‘18’ as he approached it and ‘22’ on the reverse. Which of the following, if true, would explain the discrepancy given above?

A The numbers on the milestones are interchanged.

B The number on the side facing the cyclist indicate the distance remaining to be covered.Correct Option

 C One milestone was missing between the 2 milestones seen by the cyclist.

D The distance indicated is in miles not in Kilometers.

Answer 1

I'm giving a pictorial representation (which I interpret), then it'll be easy to illustrate

First, cyclist sees $19$ miles on one side & $21$ miles to the other side.

Now, as soon as he approaches another milestone he sees that the next milestone read ‘$18$’ as he approached it and ‘$22$’ on the reverse

Whereas, he thinks that the milestones would read ‘$20$’ and ‘$20$’ on both sides. 

The most suitable option click on the mind by seeing the illustration that the milestone on his side facing indicates the remaining distance to be covered by him to reach the destination & the reverse side indicates the total distance covered by him until now. 

Hence, option B) is correct.

Comments

He actually saw 18 and 22 not 20 and 20 as per the question.

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Answer updated :)

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And the consistency in data indicates data is correct and answer also.

When the milestone showed 19 and 21 on the opposite side means 19 units of distance still needs to be covered in order to reach the destination. And if you go back from this point, it would take 21 units of distance to get to the starting point. Hence, the total distance from starting point till destination seems like 19+21=40 units.

Okay, but then after moving forward, next milestone showed 18 on cyclist side and 22 on the reverse side. Means the cyclist has moved 1 unit of distance closer to his destination and 1 unit of distance away from his starting point. Still, the total distance between the starting point and the destination is 18+22=40 units of distance and this is consistent with former analysis.

So, the only option (B) looks to be correct.

Answer 2

(B) is the correct answer. The distance written on the milestone is the distance which is remaining to be covered. First he saw 19 km and after traveling for  another km the distance remaining is 18 km.

Initially he saw 21 km on the other side of the milestone which is the distance of the city which he is leaving. When he travels another km away from it the distance changes to 22 km.