Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given below.

Eight employees—P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, and W—work in a corporate firm. Each of them holds a different designation: Managing Director (MD), Executive Director (ED), Director, Vice President (VP), Associate, Analyst, Senior Officer, and Officer, though not necessarily in that order. The hierarchical order of these designations is in decreasing order of seniority, where the Managing Director (MD) is the senior-most position and the Officer is the junior-most position.
There are exactly three designations between U and T, who is just junior to V. At most one person is junior to W. S is junior to Q and just senior to R. P is senior to both Q and U.

How many employees are senior to W?

The correct answer is Seven.

Step-by-Step Explanation:

Let us list the eight designations in decreasing order of seniority, from 1 (senior-most) to 8 (junior-most):

1. Managing Director (MD)

2. Executive Director (ED)

3. Director

4. Vice President (VP)

5. Associate

6. Analyst

7. Senior Officer

8. Officer

Now, let us analyze the clues step-by-step to place each person in their correct designation:

1. Position of W:

Clue: "At most one person is junior to W."

This means W can be at position 7 (Senior Officer) or position 8 (Officer).

2. Positions of U, V, and T:

Clue: "There are exactly three designations between U and T, who is just junior to V."

Since T is just junior to V, V and T are consecutive, with V immediately above T (i.e., V is at position k, and T is at position k+1).

Also, there are 3 designations between U and T. So, the distance between U and T is 4 positions.

3. Positions of P, Q, S, and R:

Clue: "P is senior to both Q and U."

Clue: "S is junior to Q and just senior to R."

So, the relative order from senior to junior for these four is P > Q > S > R, where S and R are immediately adjacent (S is right above R).

Testing possible arrangements:

Since P must be senior to U, U cannot be at position 1 (MD).

Case A: U is senior to T

If U is at position 2 (ED):

Then T must be at position 6 (Analyst) because there are 3 persons between U (2) and T (6) — positions 3, 4, 5.

Since T is just junior to V, V must be at position 5 (Associate).

Now the filled positions so far: U(2), V(5), T(6).

Remaining available positions: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8.

We know P is senior to U(2), so P must take position 1 (MD).

Next, we have Q > S > R. The available positions below U are 3, 4, 7, 8.

Since W must be at position 7 or 8 (at most 1 junior to W), if W = 8 (Officer), then Senior Officer (7) is available for R, Associate/Analyst are filled, so S would be at 4, Q at 3, R at 7. But S and R must be consecutive! S at 4 and R at 7 are not consecutive. So W cannot be 8 if S and R are consecutive.

If W = 7 (Senior Officer), the remaining positions for Q, S, R are 3, 4, 8. S and R cannot be consecutive here either.

Thus, U cannot be at position 2.

If U is at position 3 (Director):

Then T is at position 7 (Senior Officer) with V at position 6 (Analyst).

Filled: U(3), V(6), T(7).

Available positions: 1, 2, 4, 5, 8.

Since W must be at position 7 or 8, and position 7 is taken by T, W MUST be at position 8 (Officer).

Now filled: U(3), V(6), T(7), W(8).

Remaining available positions: 1, 2, 4, 5.

We need to place P, Q, S, R such that P > Q > S > R, with S and R adjacent.

Positions 4 and 5 are available and consecutive! So we can place S at 4 (VP) and R at 5 (Associate).

That leaves positions 1 and 2 for P and Q. Since P is senior to Q, P = 1 (MD) and Q = 2 (ED).

Let's verify this complete arrangement:

1. MD: P

2. ED: Q

3. Director: U

4. VP: S

5. Associate: R

6. Analyst: V

7. Senior Officer: T

8. Officer: W

Checking all conditions:

- Exactly 3 designations between U (3) and T (7): positions 4, 5, 6 (S, R, V). (Satisfied)

- T (7) is just junior to V (6). (Satisfied)

- At most one person is junior to W: W is at position 8 (Officer), so 0 persons are junior to W. (Satisfied)

- S (4) is junior to Q (2) and just senior to R (5). (Satisfied)

- P (1) is senior to both Q (2) and U (3). (Satisfied)

Conclusion:

W is at position 8 (Officer), which is the junior-most position.

Therefore, all other 7 employees (P, Q, U, S, R, V, T) are senior to W.