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Killer and Victim (Posted on 2012-08-26) Difficulty: 3 of 5
The sisters of Aaron Green were Betty and Clara; the name of Aaron's girlfriend was Flora Brown and, Duane and Edwin were Flora’s brothers. Their occupations were as follows:
  • Aaron was a doctor.
  • Betty was a doctor.
  • Clara was a lawyer.
  • Duane was a doctor.
  • Edwin was a lawyer.
  • Flora was a lawyer.
One of the six killed one of the other five. Here are some clues to the murder.
  1. If the killer and the victim were related, the killer was a man.
  2. If the killer and the victim were not related, the killer was a doctor.
  3. If the killer and the victim had the same occupation, the victim was a man.
  4. If the killer and the victim had different occupations, the victim was a woman.
  5. If the killer and the victim were of the same sex, the killer was a lawyer.
  6. If the killer and victim were different sexes, the victim was a doctor.
Who was the killer? Who was the victim?

See The Solution Submitted by K Sengupta    
Rating: 4.6667 (3 votes)

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Solution Answer | Comment 5 of 6 |
Suppose the victim is a lawyer. Then, by 6, the killer and victim are of the same sex. Then, by 5, the killer is a lawyer. Then, by 3, the victim is a man. Since the killer and victim are of the same sex, the killer is a man. There is only one lawyer that is a man (Edwin), so Edwin killed himself. However, we know that one of the six killed one of the other five. Therefore, the victim is a doctor.

Suppose the killer is a lawyer. Then, by 2, the killer and victim are related. Then, by 1, the killer is a man, so he is Edwin. Since the victim is a doctor, by 4, the victim is a woman. The only woman doctor is Betty, so the victim is Betty. However, Edwin and Betty are not related. Therefore, the killer is a doctor.

Now, we know that the killer and victim are both doctors. Therefore, by 3, the victim is a man. By 5, the killer and victim are of different sexes, so the killer is a woman. The only woman doctor is Betty, so she is the killer. Then, by 1, the killer and victim are not related. The victim is a man doctor, so he is either Aaron or Duane. Aaron is related to Betty, so the victim is Duane.
Betty killed Duane.


  Posted by Math Man on 2012-09-01 15:11:54
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