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Three couples, one problem (Posted on 2005-07-25) Difficulty: 3 of 5
Three friends of mine (Albert, Bert and Charles) married three girls (Daphne, Elaine and Francine) but I didn't know who married whom. I asked a mutual acquaintance about the marriages, and he said:

"Well, work it out. If Albert married Elaine, then Bert married Francine, and vice versa."

I said, "That's not enough; can you give me other hint?"

"Right. Either Bert married Daphne and Charles married Elaine, or neither of these couples happened."

"Still not enough, give me something else."

"Let's see... Charles married Francine if and only if Albert married Daphne."

"You are still not helping. Couldn't you tell me at least one specific couple, any one, so I can work out the other two myself?"

He smiled. "That wouldn't help you."

I thought a little, and I knew the three pairs. Who married whom?

See The Solution Submitted by Federico Kereki    
Rating: 3.6923 (13 votes)

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Solution Tricky (spoiler) | Comment 4 of 22 |

Each 'if and only if' statement above mentions 4 people.  The key to this is when the acquaintance said "That wouldn't help you."  The only way for this to be true is if each couple was the two people omitted from one of the 'if and only if' statements, that is the couples are AF, BE, and CD.

 


  Posted by Josh70679 on 2005-07-25 21:13:42
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