Thanks to all who submitted solutions to this week’s puzzle. The GeekDad puzzle mantle for the week goes to David O. who was first to submit the correct answer by seemingly bending time and space. Solution after the jump.
For your next project you need someone who can build with Lego and is a good shot with a rifle. Oh, and someone good at math as well. You visit the BadDad because he is known to drive his young kids like a
Roman slaver in these areas. BadDad rounds up five of his childrenâ??Vice, Walt, Xerxes, Yervant, and Zed. He says if you want the best in each you must place them in the order of their respective skill levels in Lego Construction, Shooting, and Math (there are no ties and they are never in alphabetical order). BadDad tells you:
1. Vice is higher in Lego than Yervant is at Shooting, but Vice is not top at Lego, and Yervant is not bottom at Shooting.
2. Waltâ??s average place is third, and he wasn’t top at anything.
3. Xerxes is higher at Math than at Lego and higher at Lego than at Shooting.
4. Zedâ??s Math place is lower than her Lego place, and her Lego place is lower than Xerxes’s Shooting place.
5. The sum of Yervantâ??s places is three more than the sum of Xerxes’s.
Find the order in each subject and pick the best in each.
SOLUTION
Create a diagram of what you know:
â?¢ Per 3, Xerxes can be 3rd, 4th, or 5th at Shooting
â?¢ Per 4, Xerxes can be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at Shooting; Xerxes must be 3rd at Shooting.
â?¢ Xerxes is thus 1st at Math and 2nd at Lego.
â?¢ Per 4, Zed is 4th in Lego and 5th in Math
From here, it is a matter of filling in what can be deduced from the facts as you go:
â?¢ Per 1, Vice must be 3rd in Lego and Yervant must be 4th in Shooting
â?¢ Per 2, Walt must be 5th in Lego; the only average of 3 in the remaining spaces left for Walt is 5/2/2
â?¢ Yervant must be 1st in Lego
â?¢ Per 5, the sum of Xerxes’s places is 6; Yervant must be 4th in Math (1+4+4=9)
â?¢ Vice must be 3rd in Math
â?¢ Zed is 1st and Vice is 5th in Shooting because the kids cannot be in alphabetical order
Your diagram should end up thus:
You then choose Yervant for Lego Construction, Zed for Shooting, and Xerxes for Math.
