Puzzle 197
Trade Convention #1 - Logic Puzzles
Workers with the surnames Baker, Teacher, Carpenter, and Plumber are currently attending an annual convention.
No-one is currently, nor has ever been, in the same occupation as their name, and no-one has had the same occupation twice.
Charlie has never been a carpenter, and Mr Teacher is now a plumber.
Davie used to be a teacher, but Mr Billie Baker never has.
Mr Plumber is not called Eddie, and Mr Carpenter wasn't previously a teacher.
The previous occupations were all different, and the current occupations are all different.
Can you determine the full names of each of the attendees, along with their current and previous occupation?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
Find out who used to be the teacher first.
Answer
Billie Baker – plumber + carpenter
Eddie Teacher – carpenter + plumber
Charlie Carpenter – baker + teacher
Davie Plumber – teacher + baker
The previous occupation is followed by the current.
Reasoning
The four forenames are: Billie, Charlie, Davie, Eddie.
The four surnames are: Baker, Teacher, Carpenter, Plumber
The four occupations are: baker, teacher, carpenter, plumber.
By (3), we have Billie Baker:
Billie Baker – ? + ?
Teacher – ? + ?
Carpenter – ? + ?
Plumber – ? + ?
By (2), Mr Teacher is currently a plumber:
Billie Baker – ? + ?
Teacher – ? + plumber
Carpenter – ? + ?
Plumber – ? + ?
By (3) Mr Baker was not previously a teacher. By (4), neither was Mr Carpenter. And by (1) Mr Teacher can't have been either. Therefore, Mr Plumber used to be a teacher, and is called Davie:
Billie Baker – ? + ?
Teacher – ? + plumber
Carpenter – ? + ?
Davie Plumber – teacher + ?
By (3), Mr Baker has never been a teacher, and by (1), Mr Plumber can't currently be a teacher either. Also, by (1), neither can Mr Teacher. Therefore, Mr Carpenter must currently be a teacher:
Billie Baker – ? + ?
Teacher – ? + plumber
Carpenter – ? + teacher
Davie Plumber – teacher + ?
By (1), Mr Baker can't be a baker, so only Mr Plumber can currently be a baker. Leaving Mr Baker as a carpenter currently:
Billie Baker – ? + carpenter
Teacher – ? + plumber
Carpenter – ? + teacher
Davie Plumber – teacher + baker
By (1), only Mr Teacher could have previously been a carpenter:
Billie Baker – ? + carpenter
Teacher – carpenter + plumber
Carpenter – ? + teacher
Davie Plumber – teacher + baker
By (2), Charlie must be Mr Carpenter:
Billie Baker – ? + carpenter
Teacher – carpenter + plumber
Charlie Carpenter – ? + teacher
Davie Plumber – teacher + baker
By (1), we now know all of the occupations, and Eddie must be Mr Teacher:
Billie Baker – plumber + carpenter
Eddie Teacher – carpenter + plumber
Charlie Carpenter – baker + teacher
Davie Plumber – teacher + baker
Puzzle 198
Using the new BrainBashers programming language, BrainBasic, the following words have their equivalents next to them, what should FOX be?
CLICK = 100501100K
MILK = 1000150K
LOG = 50OG
LIFE = 501FE
ALIVE = A5015E
FOX = {?}
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
In the word LOG, why might the L have be replaced with 50?
Answer
FO10.
Reasoning
If there is a Roman numeral, it is replaced by its modern equivalent.
I = 1
V = 5
X = 10
L = 50
C = 100
D = 500
M = 1000
Double-Checking
CLICK = 100 50 1 100 K
MILK = 1000 1 50 K
LOG = 50 O G
LIFE = 50 1 F E
ALIVE = A 50 1 5 E
FOX = F O 10
Puzzle 199
Many years ago, a cruise liner sank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The castaways luckily landed on a remote desert island.
There was enough food for the 135 people to last four weeks.
Nine days later a rescue ship appeared, unluckily this ship also sank, leaving an additional 36 people stranded on the island to now share the original rationed food.
The food obviously had to be re-rationed, everyone was now on three-quarters of the original ration, so how many days in total would the food last, from the day of the original sinking?
Puzzle Copyright © Kevin Stone
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Hint
How many rations did they start with?
Answer
29 days.
Originally there was enough food for 135 people for 28 days, which totals 3780 rations.
After 9 days, 1215 rations had been eaten.
Therefore there were now 2565 rations left for 171 people, which would last for another 20 days at three-quarter rations per person = (2565 ÷ 3/4) / 171.
Which is 29 days in total from the original sinking.
Puzzle 200
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!
Where lies the flaw in the logic?
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Hint
This is a puzzle to melt the brain!
Answer
The arrow clearly reaches 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.
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