Argentine, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic and Equator competed at the Olympic Games, placing first through fifth in an event. They said:

Argentine: "I was not last."
Brazil: "Canada got the bronze."
Canada: "Argentine ended behind Equator."
Dominican Republic: "Equator got silver."
Equator: "Dominican Republic didn't get gold."

The gold and silver winners lied, but the other three told the truth. How did the event end?

The solution is BDEAC.

We will take 2 countries as pairs assuming they won gold and silver and then see if rest of the statements fall in place.

Take A and B as the winners, from this A has to be lying, in that case A did finish last which is not the case so A is not the winner. A is speaking truth. ( A has to be 3rd or 4th)

Take B and C as the winnners, B says "C got bronze" now if he is lying then C should not get bronze so C got silver. C says "A ended behind E" if C is wrong then E is ahead of A which is possible. Now D and E should be speaking truth so D say "E got silver..." but this is not the case so this assumption fails.

Take B and D as the winners, B says "C got bronze" but if lying then C didnt get bronze which is possible. D syas "E got silver" which means E did not get silver, which is the case i.e. either B or D got silver. C says "A ended behind E" which can be true At this point we have picture like (B or D) EAC

Now E says D didnt get gold. so it has to be BDEAC.

 

Can i post this on my blog?

 

Posted by vineet jain on 2004-10-01 04:33:01