Class 9 practice
Class 9 reasoning questions.
Reasoning questions for Class 9, at the level of students aged 12–14, each with its answer and a short explanation. Try each one before opening the answer.
An analog clock shows the time as exactly 3:40. What is the smaller angle between the hour hand and the minute hand?
Level 4 of 5Show the answer
Answer: 130°
At 3:40, the minute hand points to 240°. The hour hand is at 90° + (40/60 × 30°) = 110°. The difference is 240° - 110° = 130°.
Five friends—Farhan, Gauri, Harish, Ishaan, and Juhi—sit in a row facing north. Farhan is at the extreme left. Harish sits immediately between Gauri and Ishaan. Juhi sits at the extreme right. Who sits in the middle?
Level 4 of 5Show the answer
Answer: Harish
The five positions from left to right are 1 to 5. Farhan is at 1 and Juhi is at 5. Since Harish is between Gauri and Ishaan, Harish must occupy position 3.
Five runners—Deepak, Fatima, Gagan, Harish, and Isha—finished a race in distinct positions. Fatima finished ahead of Gagan but behind Deepak. Harish finished ahead of Deepak. Isha finished between Deepak and Fatima. Who finished in fourth place?
Level 4 of 5Show the answer
Answer: Fatima
Harish finished ahead of Deepak, who finished ahead of Fatima, who finished ahead of Gagan. Since Isha finished between Deepak and Fatima, the order from first to fifth is Harish, Deepak, Isha, Fatima, Gagan. Fourth place is Fatima.
In a school club of 50 students, 32 play cricket and 25 play badminton. Every student plays at least one of these two sports. How many students play both sports?
Level 4 of 5Show the answer
Answer: 7
Total players equal cricket plus badminton minus both. So, 50 = 32 + 25 - both, which simplifies to 57 - 50 = 7.
A bus departs Chennai for Vellore every 40 minutes. At the enquiry counter, Priya learns that a bus left 15 minutes ago. The next bus departs at 10:25 am. At what time did Priya ask for this information?
Level 4 of 5Show the answer
Answer: 10:00 am
Since buses depart every 40 minutes and the next bus leaves at 10:25 am, the previous bus departed at 9:45 am. Priya inquired 15 minutes after that departure, which was at 10:00 am.
Jaspreet walks 12 metres North from her school gate. She turns right and walks 9 metres. What is the shortest distance between Jaspreet and the school gate?
Level 4 of 5Show the answer
Answer: 15 metres
Her path forms a right-angled triangle with legs of 12 m and 9 m. By the Pythagorean theorem, the square root of 144 plus 81 equals 15 m.
In a secret code, RIVER is written as 19-10-23-6-19. What is the code for POND in this system?
Level 4 of 5Show the answer
Answer: 17-16-15-5
Each letter is shifted forward by one alphabetical position value. P is 16 plus 1 (17), O is 15 plus 1 (16), N is 14 plus 1 (15), and D is 4 plus 1 (5).
Rohan starts from point P and walks 40 m south. He turns left and walks 30 m. He then turns left again and walks 40 m to reach point Q. In which direction is point Q from point P?
Level 4 of 5Show the answer
Answer: East
Moving 40 m south and then 40 m north cancels out the vertical movement. Rohan only shifts 30 m towards the east from P. Therefore, Q is directly east of P.
- True or false?
At a gathering, five friends shake hands with one another. If each friend shakes hands with exactly three others, this scenario is mathematically possible.
Level 4 of 5Show the answer
Answer: False
Handshakes occur in pairs, so the sum of individual handshakes must be even. Here, 5 × 3 = 15, which is impossible.
- True or false?
A box contains ten green marbles and ten yellow marbles. To guarantee having at least two marbles of the same colour, picking three marbles at random is sufficient.
Level 4 of 5Show the answer
Answer: True
With only two colours available, the third marble must match one of the first two by the Pigeonhole Principle.
- Fill in the blank.
If three distinct positive integers add up to 10, the greatest possible product of these three numbers is ___.
Level 4 of 5Show the answer
Answer: 30
The distinct positive integer sets summing to 10 are (1,2,7), (1,3,6), (1,4,5), and (2,3,5). Their products are 14, 18, 20, and 30, so 30 is greatest.
- Fill in the blank.
Among 40 children playing cricket or football, 25 play cricket and 20 play football, meaning exactly ___ children play both sports.
Level 4 of 5Show the answer
Answer: 5
Adding both groups gives 45. Subtracting the total group of 40 yields 5 children who participate in both sports.
Five friends—Aarav, Bhavna, Chetan, Deepa, and Esha—sit in a row facing north. Chetan sits directly between Aarav and Deepa. Bhavna sits at the extreme right end. Deepa sits immediately to the left of Bhavna. Who sits in the middle?
Level 5 of 5Show the answer
Answer: Chetan
Positions from left to right are 1 to 5. Bhavna is at 5, and Deepa is at 4. Because Chetan sits directly between Aarav and Deepa, Chetan takes position 3, the exact middle.
In a family, Ananya is the sister of Rohan. Rohan is the son of Meera. Meera is the sister of Dev. How is Dev related to Ananya?
Level 5 of 5Show the answer
Answer: Maternal uncle
Meera is Ananya's mother because Rohan and Ananya are siblings. Dev is Meera's brother, making him Ananya's maternal uncle.
Aarav, Bhavna, Chetan, and Diya run a race. Aarav finishes ahead of Bhavna. Chetan finishes behind Diya but ahead of Aarav. Who finishes in second place?
Level 5 of 5Show the answer
Answer: Chetan
Diya finishes before Chetan, who finishes before Aarav, who finishes before Bhavna. The final order from first to fourth is Diya, Chetan, Aarav, Bhavna. Thus, Chetan is second.
Find the missing number in this sequence: 4, 9, 25, 49, 121, ___
Level 5 of 5Show the answer
Answer: 169
The numbers are squares of consecutive prime numbers: 2 squared is 4, 3 squared is 9, 5 squared is 25, 7 squared is 49, 11 squared is 121, and 13 squared is 169.
- True or false?
A drawer contains ten black socks and ten white socks. Picking three socks at random always guarantees at least one matching pair.
Level 5 of 5Show the answer
Answer: True
Since there are only two colors, selecting three socks means at least two must share the same color by the pigeonhole principle.
- Fill in the blank.
A cube painted red on all faces is cut into sixty-four identical smaller cubes, leaving exactly ___ unpainted smaller cubes.
Level 5 of 5Show the answer
Answer: 8
The unpainted cubes form an inner core measuring (4 − 2) by (4 − 2) by (4 − 2), giving 2 × 2 × 2 = 8 cubes.
Which unit of measurement is the odd one out?
Level 5 of 5Show the answer
Answer: Newton
The ampere, kelvin, and mole are fundamental base units in the International System of Units (SI). The newton is a derived unit equal to kilogram-metre per second squared.
Which number set is the odd one out?
Level 5 of 5Show the answer
Answer: 7, 24, 26
The other three are Pythagorean triples, where the square of the largest number equals the sum of squares of the other two. For 7, 24, 26, 7² + 24² = 625, but 26² = 676.
These questions come from Ado’s question bank and are written with AI help. They are never used in ranked play, so practising them here can’t change anyone’s rank.
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