A direction pole at a crossing indicates all the directions correctly. But due to wind, it turned in such a manner that now the North pointer is showing West. A traveler went in the wrong direction thinking that he was traveling South. In which direction did he actually travel?
A direction pole at a crossing indicates all the directions correctly. But due to wind, it turned in such a manner that now the North pointer is showing West. A traveler went in the wrong direction thinking that he was traveling South. In which direction did he actually travel?
Solution
The direction pole originally shows all directions correctly. After the wind, the North pointer now shows West, meaning the pole has rotated 90° clockwise.
When the pole rotates 90° clockwise, each pointer shifts to the position that was 90° clockwise from its original position:
Original position → New position:
- North pointer → now points West
- East pointer → now points North
- South pointer → now points East
- West pointer → now points South
The traveler wants to go South, so he looks at the pole and follows the direction indicated by the "South" pointer.
Since the "South" pointer (label) now actually points toward the East direction, the traveler travels East while thinking he is traveling South.
Therefore, the traveler actually traveled in the East direction.
The answer is Option 3: East.