The first step for solving the questions using the concept of 'directions' is to understand the direction chart, which has 8 directions. Take a look at the direction chart given below.
Each main direction change undergoes a 90° change in direction e.g. from North to West/East will be 90° change. But the change between North and North-east is only 45°.
Directions problems generally ask about the shortest distance, distance by air, crow fly distance, etc. For the purpose of solving these questions, we assume all these distances to be along straight lines and between specified points. We use the concept of Pythagoras theorem to solve the questions.