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?

We can put all we know in a table, where we have three columns each stating what one of the reporters said:

Laos 2 1
Malaysia 3 2
Japan 1
Korea 2

Numbers means medals 1-gold 3-bronze. We know that at least one entry in every column is true.

Assume that Laos won silver (from the first column)
So Korea couldn't have won silver then Japan must have won gold (from the second column)
After that third column is impossible.

Then we are sure (from the first column) that Malaysia won bronze.

Lets assume that Japan won gold (from the second column).
Then the third column is impossible becouse Japan couldn't have won silver and Laos couldn't have won gold.

Then we are sure (from the second column) that Korea won silver.
Then it's not possible for Japan to win silver (as Korea won that) so Laos must have won gold (one entry in column must be true) then Japan must have won bronze.

Final answer:
Laos - gold,
Korea - silver,
Malaysia, Japan - bronze,

Best wishes,
Rafal

Posted by Rafal on 2004-09-05 11:53:46