Circular Path Radius

XAT 2025 · Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation · Hard · Geometry

There are five dustbins along a circular path at different places. Ramesh takes multiple rounds of the path every morning, always at the same speed. He noticed that it took him a different number of steps to walk between any two consecutive dustbins. Ramesh also noticed that starting from any of the dustbins, it took a minimum 800 steps to reach every second dustbin. On the other hand, starting from any of the dustbins, it took a maximum 1260 steps to reach every third dustbin. If Ramesh's one step is 0.77 metre, and the width of the path is negligible, which of the following can be the radius of the circular path?

  1. A.

    230 metres

  2. B.

    240 metres

  3. C.

    260 metres

  4. D.

    250 metres

  5. E.

    220 metres

Answer

D

Explanation

Let the distances between consecutive dustbins be l1,l2,l3,l4,l5l_1, l_2, l_3, l_4, l_5 in steps. Reaching every second dustbin means sum of 2 consecutive intervals, e.g. li+li+1≥800l_i + l_{i+1} \ge 800. Summing over all 5 dustbins: ∑(li+li+1)=2∑li≥5×800=4000  ⟹  ∑li≥2000\sum (l_i + l_{i+1}) = 2 \sum l_i \ge 5 \times 800 = 4000 \implies \sum l_i \ge 2000. Reaching every third dustbin means sum of 3 consecutive intervals, e.g. li+li+1+li+2≤1260l_i + l_{i+1} + l_{i+2} \le 1260. Summing over all 5 dustbins: 3∑li≤5×1260=6300  ⟹  ∑li≤21003 \sum l_i \le 5 \times 1260 = 6300 \implies \sum l_i \le 2100. So total perimeter in steps is between 2000 and 2100 steps. Since 1 step = 0.77 m: 2000×0.77≤2πr≤2100×0.772000 \times 0.77 \le 2\pi r \le 2100 \times 0.77 1540≤2πr≤16171540 \le 2\pi r \le 1617 15402π≤r≤16172π  ⟹  245.1≤r≤257.3\frac{1540}{2\pi} \le r \le \frac{1617}{2\pi} \implies 245.1 \le r \le 257.3. Among the given choices, 250 metres lies in this range.

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