GATE CS 2017 Set 2 QGA-3 — General Aptitude

To find the relative positions of the five buildings ($V, W, X, Y, Z$) from West to East, we can represent "West" as the left side and "East" as the right side.

Let's analyze the given clues step-by-step:

1. "$V$ is to the West of $W$":
   This gives the relative order: $$\text{West} \longrightarrow V \dots W \longrightarrow \text{East}$$
2. "$Z$ is to the East of $X$ and the West of $V$":
   This means $Z$ is to the right of $X$ and to the left of $V$: $$\text{West} \longrightarrow X \dots Z \dots V \longrightarrow \text{East}$$
3. "$W$ is to the West of $Y$":
   This means $W$ is to the left of $Y$: $$\text{West} \longrightarrow W \dots Y \longrightarrow \text{East}$$

Combining all three relations in order from West to East, we get:

Since there are exactly five buildings, their unique sequence from West to East is $X - Z - V - W - Y$.

The building in the middle (the $3^{\text{rd}}$ building) is $V$.