June 17, 2009

Mo Liu Stuff: Puzzle part 2

小 明 和 小 紅 都 是 張 老 師 學 生 , 張 老 師 的 生 日 是 M 月 N 日 , 二
人 都 知 道 張 老 師 的 生 日是 下 列 10 組 中 的 一 天 。 張 老 師 把 M 值
告 訴 了 小 明 , 把 N 值 告 訴 了 小 紅 , 張 老 師 問他 們 知 道 他 的 生
日 是 哪 一 天 嗎 ?
 
3 月 4 日
 

3 月 5 日
 

3 月 8 日
 

6 月 4 日
 

6 月 7 日
9 月 1 日
 

9 月 5 日
 

12 月 1 日
 

12 月 2 日
 

12 月 8 日
 
小 明 說 : 「 如 果 我 不 知 道 的 話 , 小 紅 肯 定 也 不 知 道 。 」
小 紅 說 : 「 本 來 我 也 不 知 道 , 但 是 現 在 我 知 道 了 。 」
小 明 說 : 「 哦 , 那 我 也 知 道 了 。 」
 
請 根 據 以 上 對 話 推 斷 答 案 。

English Translation:

Zach and Jimmy are Ms. Yu students. Ms. Yu's birthday is M month and N day. Both students know Ms. Yu's bday is one of the below dates.

march 4
march 5
march 8
june 4
june 7
sept 1
sept 5
december 1
december 2
december 8

Ms. Yu told Zach M and Jimmy N, then asked them if they knew when her bday is.
 
Zach said, "if i don't know the date,  Jimmy definitely doesn't know the date either."
Jimmy replied, "i didn't know the date before, but now i do."
Zach replied, "Oh, now i know the date too!"
 
Figure out what the date is based on above conversation.


UPDATE: My friend finally figured it out and kindly emailed me the answer and explanation. I will post the answer in the comment's section. Thanks Jimmy, you are a genius! ^^ 

Lip x

1 comment:

  1. Okay, please look at the date, N (ignore month for now): both 2 (in Dec) and 7 (in Jun) appear once only: so if zach only knew the month was in fact dec or jun, then Zach would know Jimmy got the birthday right away (jimmy doesn’t need the month to hit the answer). It’s the fact Zach knew it is in neither of the months tells me that the bday cant be in dec or jun. (Zach said jimmy wouldn’t know if he didn’t know the month)

    So the first line only leaves us with 4th mar, 5th mar, 8th mar, 1st sep and 5th sep. (after taking out Jun and Dec)

    Now please give jimmy the attention; after zach said the first line, jimmy realized the birthday cant be in dec or jun. In the second line he indicates that he now knows. This tells me it cant be 5th mar or 5th sep because jimmy would have needed more info (ie from zach) to eliminate either mar or sep.

    So the second line leaves us with 4th Mar, 8th Mar and 1st Sep.

    Now Zach knows jimmy has eliminated 5th mar and 5th sep, and Jimmy has realized when the bday is.

    The third clearly indicates as Zach knows the answer for sure, which suggests it cant be in Mar, because Zach would have needed more info (ie from Jimmy) to eliminate either 4th or 8th.

    So we only have date and month left after elimination.

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