Direction & Distance
🔒 Log in to trackShadow questions
🔒 Log in to trackThe sun's position fixes the shadow:
- Morning: sun in the East → every shadow points West.
- Evening: sun in the West → every shadow points East.
- At local noon (in India) the shadow points roughly North.
The standard phrasings, decoded:
- 'Shadow falls behind him' → he faces opposite the shadow.
- 'Shadow falls in front / towards him' → he faces along the shadow.
- 'Shadow to his left/right' → he faces perpendicular, on the stated side.
Convert to a sentence about facing first, then run the walk. Do not skip the conversion — answering 'which way is the shadow' instead of 'which way is he facing' is the classic half-error.
Detailed notes
Shadows: the sun does the pointing
A shadow question is a direction question where one arrow is drawn for you — by the sun. Learn the sun's positions and every question becomes a two-line solution.
The two facts to memorise.
- Morning: the sun is in the East, so every shadow points West.
- Evening/sunset: the sun is in the West, so every shadow points East.
At exactly noon the sun is overhead and shadows are shortest and ambiguous — good questions either avoid noon or make the ambiguity the answer.
The four standard templates.
Template 1 — facing from the shadow. "In the morning, a man's shadow falls in front of him." Shadow = West, and it is in front → he faces West. "Falls behind him" → he faces East. "Falls to his right" → his right side is West → he faces South. "To his left" → he faces North. (Check: face North — your left hand points West ✓.)
Template 2 — shadow from the facing. The reverse reading: the facing is given and the shadow's side is asked. Use the body map — facing North: left West, right East; facing South: left East, right West; facing East: left North, right South; facing West: left South, right North. Example: morning (shadow West) and the person faces South → per the body map, West is the right side → the shadow falls to their right.
Template 3 — two people and one shadow. "Back to back" questions: the shadow (a fixed compass direction at that hour) falls from one person onto the other. Place them on the compass, then use 'back to back' to fix both facings as opposite.
Template 4 — shadow, then movement. The person sees the shadow, walks toward/away from it or turns a stated number of degrees, and you must give the final facing. Decode the shadow into a compass direction first, convert the walk into normal direction language, then finish it as a plain final-facing question (net quarter turns on the N→E→S→W cycle).
Common traps. Mixing the morning and evening shadow directions is the #1 error — write "sun E → shadow W" before starting. Second trap: using the shadow as the person's facing — the shadow's direction and the person's facing are two different arrows, opposite when the shadow is in front/behind, perpendicular when left/right.
Quick revision
- Morning: sun East → shadow West. Evening: sun West → shadow East.
- Shadow in front → facing opposite the shadow; behind → facing the shadow's side of the sky.
- Shadow left → face N (morning) / S (evening); shadow right → face S (morning) / N (evening).
- Back to back = facings are exact opposites.
- Convert the shadow to a compass word first; then solve the rest as a normal direction question.
Types of questions asked
Every way this subtopic shows up in exams — how to recognise it, the formula or logic to use, and a solved example.
Type 1: Morning shadow (sun East → shadow West)very common3 practice Q
'Early morning / at sunrise' plus a shadow position: front, back, left or right of a person.
- Write the anchor: morning → shadow points West.
- Place the shadow: front = facing West, back = facing East.
- Left/right: shadow West on the left → facing North; on the right → facing South.
Why it works: the shadow is a fixed compass arrow; the body's sides rotate around it.
Example: Early morning, a man's shadow falls exactly in front of him. Which direction is he facing?
Morning shadow = West; in front → he faces West.
Type 2: Evening shadow (sun West → shadow East)very common3 practice Q
'Evening / at sunset' with the same front/back/left/right shadow placement.
- Write the anchor: evening → shadow points East.
- Front → facing West; back → facing East.
- Left → facing South; right → facing North (check with the body: face South, your right is West, so East is left).
Why it works: same mechanics as morning with the shadow arrow flipped 180°.
Example: At sunset, a woman's shadow falls behind her. Which direction is she facing?
Evening shadow = East; it falls on her back, so she faces the opposite → West.
Type 3: Shadow to facing inferencecommon2 practice Q
The shadow's side (front/back/left/right) is given and the person's facing is asked — or the reverse.
- Convert the shadow to a compass arrow for that hour.
- Use the body map: N→left W/right E; S→left E/right W; E→left N/right S; W→left S/right N.
- Pick the facing that puts the shadow on the stated side.
Why it works: exactly four facings exist; only one puts the shadow arrow on the required side.
Example: In the morning, Manish's shadow falls to his right. Which direction is he facing?
Morning shadow = West; facing South, the right hand points West → he faces South.
Type 4: Shadow, then movement or turnoccasional2 practice Q
The person walks toward/away from the shadow or turns by 90°/180° after reading it; final facing is asked.
- Decode the shadow into a compass direction for that hour.
- Translate 'walks toward/away from the shadow' into normal direction language.
- Finish with net quarter turns on N → E → S → W.
Why it works: after the conversion the question is an ordinary final-facing problem.
Example: Morning: a man walks towards his shadow for 5 km, then turns 90° clockwise. Which direction is he facing now?
Morning shadow = West → he walked West facing West; +1 quarter turn → W + 1 = North.
Shortcut tricks
⚡ One-line conversion
Rewrite the shadow sentence as a facing sentence before doing anything else: morning + behind = facing East; evening + in front = facing East; morning + shadow on the left = facing South (shadow West is on the left of a South-facing person).
Example: Q. One evening, Ramesh's shadow falls exactly in front of him. Which direction is he facing?
Sol. Evening shadow points East; shadow in front means he faces along it → East.
Shadow sentence → facing sentence → answer. Three words per step.
Where students lose marks
Using the evening shadow direction (East) in a morning question.
Answering the shadow's direction instead of the person's facing.
Forgetting shadow-left/right flips when the facing flips.
Practice sets — 12 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Each answer comes with a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 12 questions
Suggested time 9 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.