The first group of trainee astronauts are all sitting around the table, waiting to start their first day of training.
From the clues given below, can work out where everyone sits?
Seat 1 is next to Seat 2 and Seat 8, etc. Seat 5 is across from Seat 1, and Seat 7 is across from Seat 3, etc. Seat 2 is a higher seat number than Seat 1, etc.
William is next to Alisa and Nick. William is across from George. Amanda is next to Sarah. Sarah is across from Eric. Nick is next to Eric. Sydney is in Seat 4 and sits next to George. George has a higher seat number than Sydney. Alisa is not in Seat 2.
Answer
Seat 1 = William
Seat 2 = Nick
Seat 3 = Eric
Seat 4 = Sydney
Seat 5 = George
Seat 6 = Amanda
Seat 7 = Sarah
Seat 8 = Alisa
Reasoning
Sydney is in Seat 4 and is next to George (Clue 6), so George is in either Seat 3 or Seat 5. But George has a higher seat number than Sydney (Clue 7). Therefore, George is in Seat 5.
William is across from George (Clue 2), and therefore is in Seat 1.
William is next to Alisa and Nick (Clue 1), so Alisa and Nick are in Seat 2 and Seat 8 (either way around). But Alisa is not in Seat 2 (Clue 8). Therefore, Alisa is in Seat 8 and Nick is in Seat 2.
Nick is next to Eric (Clue 5) so can only be in Seat 3.
Sarah is across from Eric (Clue 4), and therefore is in Seat 7.
Amanda is next to Sarah (Clue 3) and can only be in Seat 6.
Take the Roman numerals in sequence, and convert to the phonetic alphabet.
1 = I = India
5 = V = Victor
10 = X = X-Ray
50 = L = Lima
100 = C = Charlie
500 = D = Delta
Hint
Look at the number of letters in each of the names.
Answer
No.
Those that like walking have an odd number of letters in their name.
?
Puzzle 20
Consider an arrow in flight towards a target.
At any given moment of time, a snapshot could be taken of this arrow. In this snapshot, the arrow would not be moving. Let us now take another snapshot, leaving a very small gap of time between them. Again, the arrow is stationary. We can keep taking snapshots for each moment of time, each of which shows the arrow to be stationary. Therefore the overall effect is that the arrow never moves, however it still hits the target!
This is a classic paradox, attributed to Zeno of Elea, a Greek philosopher from Italy. Great minds over the centuries have pondered this paradox, and the scope of a solution is beyond the space available here. It is not even clear that a solution to the paradox actually exists.
