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Five Tenants (Posted on 2003-04-03) Difficulty: 5 of 5
In an apartment building five stories high with five apartments per floor, there live five men of different ages, each a multiple of 12. None of them live on the same floor or in the same apartment number for a given floor (i.e., if one of them lives in apartment 1A, none of the others lives in 2A, 3A, 4A, or 5A). Everyone in the building over age 70 is retired. From the clues below, determine the full name of each man, his age, his occupation (or former occupation, if retired), and the apartment he lives in.

(1) The zookeeper does not live in apartment “A” of any floor (which are on the far left), nor does the youngest man live in any apartment “E” (on the far right).

(2) Calvin lives below the nurse, who lives below Mr. Loomis.

(3) The sum of the ages of Edgar and the banker is less than or equal to the ages of the other three men, namely Mr. Knight, the man in apartment "B", and the inhabitant of the third floor.

(4) Blake lives to the right of the banker and to the left of Mr. Masse.

(5) From left to right live the man on the fourth floor, Mr. Nash, the Electrician, and the second oldest man.

(6) From top to bottom live the zookeeper, Mr. James, the man in apartment “C”, and Blake.

(7) The age of the oldest man, who is not the pastry chef, minus the age of the youngest, who is not Calvin, equals the age of Albert, who is not retired.

(8) The apartments of Calvin, the electrician, and the pastry chef lie on a diagonal line.

(9) Dan lives on the next floor from the banker, and two floors from Mr. Knight.

(10) The age of the man on the fifth floor is above average.

  Submitted by Bryan    
Rating: 4.3333 (12 votes)
Solution: (Hide)
As with all logic problems of this sort, a logic chart helps a great detail. For examples of logic problems with charts, check out www.puzzlersrest.com. And now for the solution ...

The age of each man is unique and a multiple of 12 (given), so the possible ages (excluding 12, since a 12-year-old would not be a man) are 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, etc. Let the five ages, from youngest to oldest, be I, II, III, IV, and V. We know V-I = Albert’s age (clue 7), which is less than 70 (given). Therefore either V-I = 48, making the five ages consecutive multiples of 12, or V-I = 60. I+II <= III, IV, or V (clue 3) and I is at least 24, so III is at least 24 greater than II and the ages cannot be consecutive multiples. Thus V-I must be 60 and I = 24. 24+II <= 60, so II = 36 and III = 60. V = 24+60 = 84. IV is therefore 72. To sum up, the five ages are 24, 36, 60, 72, and 84, with 60 being Albert’s age.

Blake lives on the 1st or 2nd floor (6), and Calvin does not live above the third floor (2). Mr. Knight does not live on the 3rd floor (3), so Dan does not live on the 1st or 5th floor (9). Also, Edgar is one of the two youngest (3), but the age of the man on the fifth floor is above average (10). Thus Albert lives on the fifth floor.

The banker does not live on the 3rd floor (3). He is also one of the two youngest men and therefore not on the 5th floor (10), so Dan cannot live on the 4th floor (9), so Edgar must be on the 4th floor. This means the banker, Mr. Knight, and the man in apartment “B” are not on the 4th floor (3). Since Dan cannot live on the 2nd floor (9), he must be on the 3rd, putting the banker on the 2nd. Also, since the man on the 4th floor lives in either “A” or “B” (5), he must be in 4A. The zookeeper is not in 4A (1), nor is he below the 4th floor (6), so he must be on the 5th floor.

The banker does not live in apartment “B” (3), “D” or “E” (4). Since Edgar is in 4A and the banker is not, the banker must be in apartment “C”, specifically 2C. Thus Blake is on the 1st floor (6), leaving Calvin on the 2nd. The electrician lives in “C” or “D” (5), but with the banker in 2C, the electrician must be in D. Since the electrician lives in a diagonal line with Calvin and the pastry chef (8), the electrician must be in 1D and the pastry chef must be in 4A. The nurse is therefore on the 3rd floor. Since 3B is not an option (3), the nurse lives in 3E, and the last apartment is 5B.

Calvin the banker is not the youngest (7), but he is one of the two youngest (3), so his age is 36. Thus Edgar is 24 (3). The second oldest man lives to the right of the electrician (5), putting him in 3E. Since Albert the 60-year-old is in 5B, the oldest lives in 1D.

The banker in 2C is not Mr. Loomis (2), Mr. Knight (3), Mr. Masse (4), or Mr. James (6), so he must be Mr. Nash. Mr. Knight is not in 5B (3), so he must live on the 1st floor. Mr. Masse does not live in apartment “A” or “B” (4), so he must be in 3E. Mr. James lives on either the 3rd or 4th floor (6), so he must be in 4A, leaving Mr. Loomis on the 5th floor.

The complete solution is therefore:

Albert Loomis, 60, zookeeper, apartment 5B
Blake Knight, 84, electrician (retired), apartment 1D
Calvin Nash, 36, Banker, apartment 2C
Dan Masse, 72, nurse (retired), apartment 3E
Edgar James, 24, pastry chef, apartment 4A

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
answerK Sengupta2007-11-04 04:26:23
re: ages of 3 personsBryan2004-01-26 10:37:26
ages of 3 personsandreas2004-01-26 07:20:15
BRUTALAndrew Mitchell2003-08-06 13:25:26
re: THE solution (so I hope)Gamer2003-04-06 14:19:09
re(2): THE solution (so I hope)Bryan2003-04-05 15:31:30
Some Thoughtsre: THE solution (so I hope)john2003-04-05 12:16:05
SolutionTHE solution (so I hope)john2003-04-05 12:08:58
re(2): SolutionBryan2003-04-05 09:38:14
OkayDJ2003-04-05 08:26:57
welpDJ2003-04-05 06:36:05
Some Thoughtsre: SolutionZG2003-04-05 00:53:23
SolutionSolutionZG2003-04-05 00:42:06
re: Solution?Bryan2003-04-04 11:32:37
re: Solution?Dan2003-04-04 11:27:02
Solution?Dan2003-04-04 11:19:01
re(2): some questions Bryanjohn2003-04-04 08:29:10
re: some questions BryanBryan2003-04-04 06:41:05
Questionsome questions Bryanjohn2003-04-04 06:10:36
re: not quite sure if it's rite...Bryan2003-04-04 04:44:04
not quite sure if it's rite...montana hingis2003-04-03 19:44:04
another pointmontana hingis2003-04-03 18:10:18
just want to clarify sthmontana hingis2003-04-03 18:05:04
Chart 2 Hey DJjohn2003-04-03 14:47:42
Some Thoughtssome kind of start...DJ2003-04-03 13:07:39
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