At a family reunion, I met four distant cousing who are all in the US military. They each came in their dress uniforms, two from the Army, and two from the Navy. When I asked them their names, and where they were stationed, Terry and Tracy told the truth, but Lee and Loren lied. This was especially confusing because all four names could belong to either a man or a woman. Here is what they each said:

Male soldier:

1. The male sailor is Terry.
2. Tracy isn't stationed in Afghanistan.

Female soldier:

1. The female sailor isn't Terry.
2. Loren isn't the person stationed in Texas.

Male sailor:

1. The male soldier is Lee.
2. The female sailor is Loren.

Female sailor:

1. A sailor is stationed in Hawaii.
2. Tracy is stationed in Afghanistan.

Help me figure out who is who, and where they are all stationed (one is in Kuwait).

"Luckily" the truth-tellers' names begin with T, and the liars' with L.

If the male sailor were Terry, the male soldier would be Lee, a liar. But the male solder claims this to be true, so the male sailor can't be Terry and the Male soldier can't be Lee. However since the male soldier is a liar, he must be Loren.

Also his second statement is false, so Tracy is indeed stationed in Afghanistan, and the female sailor is therefore a truth teller.

Thus the female sailor, a truth teller, is not Loren, so the male sailor is a liar, and the male soldier is therefore not Lee. But since the male soldier is also a liar, he is Loren, while the male sailor is Lee.

Thus the males lie and the females tell the truth. Thus the female sailor is indeed not Terry, so the female soldier must be Terry while the female sailor is Tracy.

This establishes the names. Now for the stationings.

We've established that Tracy (who is the female sailor) is indeed stationed in Afghanistan. As Tracy's other statement is true, a sailor is stationed in Hawaii, and the only other sailor is Lee, he is stationed in Hawaii.

Now comes the hard part: it does not say anywhere that anyone is in fact stationed in Texas. Nor does a liar state that someone is not stationed in Texas--only a truth teller says this.

I would say the puzzle poser wants us to say that Terry, the female soldier, is stationed in Texas, and that Loren, the male soldier is stationed in Kuwait. But actually, either could be stationed in Kuwait and the other in an unmentioned location. So the possibilities are:

Male soldier-Loren    Kuwait          Kuwait        unknown


Female soldier-Terry  Texas           unknown       Kuwait


Male sailor-Lee       Hawaii          Hawaii        Hawaii


Female sailor-Tracy   Afghanistan     Afghanistan   Afghanistan

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(hoping that the pre comes out ok on the above so the columns appear.)

Posted by Charlie on 2003-09-01 17:27:01