Preparing breakfast for Will and her five other boarders before they set out for work each morning keeps Mrs. Finnegan very busy. Her task is made somewhat easier, however, by the fact that each young man has the same breakfast every morning---either eggs or pancakes, accompanied by either bacon, ham, or sausage. Each one also has either coffee, tea, or milk. No two have exactly the same breakfast. It should be added that Mrs. Finnegan has a firm rule: She will not prepare any dish for only one person. From the following clues can you determine what each boarder has for breakfast?

1. Al, who does not like sausage, usually sits next to the boarder who breakfasts on bacon and pancakes.

2. Bob and Chuck both have ham.

3. Peter does not care for bacon.

4. Ned does not like pancakes.

5. Bob has coffee.

6. The sausage eaters have tea; two of the pancake eaters have coffee; the other two boarders drink milk.

7. More than two of the boarders have eggs.

(In reply to Solution to Breakfast by Kathryn)

I didn't really look at your solution until I had figured out mine. Then, I noticed that they were different.

You should have double-checked your list against the clues one last time; #5 says that Bob has coffee, but your Bob has milk. Also, #6 says that two of the pancake eaters have coffee, but you only have two pancake-eaters, one of whom is drinking tea. Since this was a pretty simple problem, you must have made a pretty simple mistake, somewhere, I guess...

Remember the first two rules to any problem: show your work, and check yoru answer!

Posted by DJ on 2003-08-23 14:16:55