It was logical that four asian countries (Japan, Korea, Laos and Malaysia) should be the judo finalists, but I couldn’t learn the relative standings.

A reporter told me “Laos won silver, and/or Malaysia won bronze.” Other reporter added “Japan won gold, and/or Korea won bronze.” A third one added “Laos won gold, and/or Japan won silver.”

I couldn’t make heads or tails out of this, until I remembered that in judo, two bronze medals are awarded. Which were the standings?

Just looking at it, not thinking it out too detailed, it looks like the answer is:

Japan won Silver, Korea won Bronze, Laos won Gold, and Malaysia won Bronze.

I was going to think it out, making observations like "Well, Laos can’t win Bronze, because then Japan has to win Silver and Malaysia has to win Bronze, but if Japan wins Silver then Korea has to win Bronze as well…" and so on, but the answer just popped out simply.

Basically, I just thought, "Ok, let Malaysia and Korea be Bronze like it says. Then two of the statements are satisfied, no matter what Japan and Korea are (though we know they will be Silver and Gold). Then to satisfy the third statement, you must make Laos win Gold and Japan win Silver. Boom done."

If I had continued my "thought out" solution, it would have simply been that Laos can’t be bronze or else there will be 3 bronzes. Same goes for Japan. Since there are 2 bronzes, we know that they must go to the other two teams (Korea and Malaysia), and then you just figure out which is silver and which is gold between Japan and Laos.

Posted by nikki on 2004-08-30 10:03:43