Detailed Solution for the Circular Seating Arrangement Puzzle

This problem involves arranging seven friends around a circular table based on the given clues. The friends are Subhi, Prince, Ketan, Vishal, Mahima, Krish, and Naitik. They are sitting with their backs towards the centre, which means their left and right are determined from their perspective facing outwards. In a circular arrangement with people facing outwards, 'right' means moving clockwise relative to the view from the centre, and 'left' means moving anti-clockwise relative to the view from the centre. However, from a person's perspective facing outwards, 'right' is typically the seat immediately clockwise and 'left' is the seat immediately anti-clockwise relative to their own position.

Analyzing the Clues and Deducing Positions

Let's break down the information provided and build the seating arrangement step-by-step.

1. There are seven friends in a circular arrangement.
2. Subhi is sitting to the immediate right of Prince. Let's fix Prince's position and place Subhi accordingly. In a clockwise direction from Prince, the very next seat is occupied by Subhi.
3. Vishal is sitting third to the left of Prince. If we move anti-clockwise starting from Prince's position, the third person we encounter is Vishal.
4. Mahima is sitting to the immediate right of Vishal. Once we know Vishal's position, we move one seat clockwise from Vishal to find Mahima's position.
5. Naitik and Krish are not sitting to the immediate left or right of Vishal. This is a constraint on the positions of Naitik and Krish relative to Vishal.
6. The remaining friend is Ketan.

Step-by-Step Placement:

• Let's represent the positions around the circle. Since there are 7 people, we can think of 7 positions.
• Assume Prince is at a certain position. Let's call this Position 1.
• According to clue 2, Subhi is immediate right of Prince. Moving clockwise from Position 1, the immediate right is Position 2. So, Subhi is at Position 2.
• According to clue 3, Vishal is third to the left of Prince. From Position 1, moving anti-clockwise: the first to the left is Position 7, the second is Position 6, and the third is Position 5. So, Vishal is at Position 5.
• According to clue 4, Mahima is immediate right of Vishal. Vishal is at Position 5. Moving clockwise from Position 5, the immediate right is Position 6. So, Mahima is at Position 6.

So far, we have placed:

• Position 1: Prince
• Position 2: Subhi
• Position 3: ?
• Position 4: ?
• Position 5: Vishal
• Position 6: Mahima
• Position 7: ?

The remaining friends are Ketan, Krish, and Naitik. The remaining available positions are 3, 4, and 7.

Now, let's use the constraint from clue 5: Naitik and Krish are not sitting to the immediate left or right of Vishal.

• Vishal is at Position 5.
• Immediate left of Vishal (Position 5) is Position 4 (moving anti-clockwise).
• Immediate right of Vishal (Position 5) is Position 6 (moving clockwise). Position 6 is already occupied by Mahima.
• The constraint means Naitik and Krish cannot be at Position 4 or Position 6.
• Since Mahima is at Position 6, the critical part of the constraint is that Naitik and Krish cannot be at Position 4.

The available positions for Ketan, Krish, and Naitik are 3, 4, and 7. We just deduced that Naitik and Krish cannot be at Position 4. Therefore, the only remaining person, Ketan, must be at Position 4.

This leaves Positions 3 and 7 for Naitik and Krish. The problem does not give enough information to determine exactly who is at Position 3 and who is at Position 7, but that is not needed to answer the question.

The arrangement looks like this (clockwise from Prince):

Answering the Question

The question asks: Who is sitting third to the right of Prince?

Starting from Prince's position (Position 1) and moving to the right (clockwise):

• 1st to the right of Prince is the person at Position 2 (Subhi).
• 2nd to the right of Prince is the person at Position 3 (Naitik or Krish).
• 3rd to the right of Prince is the person at Position 4 (Ketan).

Therefore, Ketan is sitting third to the right of Prince.

The final answer is Ketan.

Revision Table: Circular Seating Puzzle

Additional Information: Circular Arrangement Logic

Circular seating arrangement questions are common in logical reasoning. Here are some key points to remember:

• Direction: Pay close attention to whether people are facing the centre or facing outwards. This determines the direction of 'left' and 'right'.
  • Facing Centre: Right is anti-clockwise, Left is clockwise (relative to an observer from above). From the person's perspective, their right hand side is to their right, which is moving anti-clockwise around the circle.
  • Facing Outwards: Right is clockwise, Left is anti-clockwise (relative to an observer from above). From the person's perspective, their right hand side is to their right, which is moving clockwise around the circle.
• Relative Positions: Clues often give positions relative to another person (e.g., "immediate right", "third to the left").
• Fixed Positions: Sometimes a clue fixes one person's position, or you can arbitrarily fix one person's position to start deductions in a relative sense.
• Constraints: Negative clues (e.g., "not sitting next to") are crucial for eliminating possibilities and determining positions of the remaining people.
• Total Persons: The total number of people determines the number of positions and how 'n-th to the left/right' translates to absolute or relative position numbers. For N people, the K-th person to the right is at position (Current Position + K - 1) mod N + 1 (if using 1-based indexing).

Practicing with different numbers of people and different types of clues helps improve speed and accuracy in solving these puzzles.