Miss Alden, Miss Brent, Miss Clark, Miss Doyle and Miss Evans have short first and middle names.

1. Four of them have a first or middle name of Fay, three of them have a first or middle name of Hay, two of them have a first or middle name of Kay and one of them has a first or middle name of May.
2. Either Miss Alden and Miss Brent are both named Kay or Miss Clark and Miss Doyle are both named Kay.
3. Of Miss Brent and Miss Clark, either both are named Hay or neither is named Hay.
4. Miss Doyle and Miss Evans are not both named Fay.

Who is named May?

DECLARE SUB permute (a$)
CLS
f$ = "ffffhhhkkm": h$ = f$
DO
  a$ = MID$(f$, 1, 2)
  b$ = MID$(f$, 3, 2)
  c$ = MID$(f$, 5, 2)
  d$ = MID$(f$, 7, 2)
  e$ = MID$(f$, 9, 2)
  fct = 0: hct = 0: kct = 0
  IF INSTR(a$, "f") > 0 THEN fct = fct + 1
  IF INSTR(b$, "f") > 0 THEN fct = fct + 1
  IF INSTR(c$, "f") > 0 THEN fct = fct + 1
  IF INSTR(d$, "f") > 0 THEN fct = fct + 1
  IF INSTR(e$, "f") > 0 THEN fct = fct + 1
  IF INSTR(a$, "h") > 0 THEN hct = hct + 1
  IF INSTR(b$, "h") > 0 THEN hct = hct + 1
  IF INSTR(c$, "h") > 0 THEN hct = hct + 1
  IF INSTR(d$, "h") > 0 THEN hct = hct + 1
  IF INSTR(e$, "h") > 0 THEN hct = hct + 1
  IF INSTR(a$, "k") > 0 THEN kct = kct + 1
  IF INSTR(b$, "k") > 0 THEN kct = kct + 1
  IF INSTR(c$, "k") > 0 THEN kct = kct + 1
  IF INSTR(d$, "k") > 0 THEN kct = kct + 1
  IF INSTR(e$, "k") > 0 THEN kct = kct + 1
  IF fct = 4 AND hct = 3 AND kct = 2 THEN
    IF INSTR(a$, "k") > 0 AND INSTR(b$, "k") > 0 OR INSTR(c$, "k") > 0 AND INSTR(d$, "k") > 0 THEN
      IF (INSTR(b$, "h") > 0) = (INSTR(c$, "h") > 0) THEN
         IF INSTR(d$, "f") = 0 OR INSTR(e$, "f") = 0 THEN
           PRINT a$; " "; b$; " "; c$; " "; d$; " "; e$; " "
         END IF
      END IF
    END IF
  END IF

  permute f$
LOOP UNTIL f$ = h$

finds possible sets of initials for MSs Alden, Brent, Clark, Doyle and Evans as follows:

A  B  C  D  E
fh fm fk hk fh
fh fm fk hk hf
fh fm fk kh fh
fh fm fk kh hf
fh fm kf hk fh
fh fm kf hk hf
fh fm kf kh fh
fh fm kf kh hf
fh mf fk hk fh
fh mf fk hk hf
fh mf fk kh fh
fh mf fk kh hf
fh mf kf hk fh
fh mf kf hk hf
fh mf kf kh fh
fh mf kf kh hf
hf fm fk hk fh
hf fm fk hk hf
hf fm fk kh fh
hf fm fk kh hf
hf fm kf hk fh
hf fm kf hk hf
hf fm kf kh fh
hf fm kf kh hf
hf mf fk hk fh
hf mf fk hk hf
hf mf fk kh fh
hf mf fk kh hf
hf mf kf hk fh
hf mf kf hk hf
hf mf kf kh fh
hf mf kf kh hf

Miss Brent is either May Fay or Fay May.

Posted by Charlie on 2014-01-07 14:47:33