Math Is Fun Forum

Bob

Administrator

Registered: 2010-06-20

Posts: 10,623

Four People Travel

Hi

Is there missing information here ? or can anyone explain why there are not lots of solutions:

The Puzzle: Four people are traveling to different places on different types of transport.

Their names are: Rachel, John, Mr.Jones and Cindy.

They either went on train, car, plane or ship.

* Mr.Jones hates flying
* Cindy has to rent her vehicle
* John gets seasick

Bob

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Children are not defined by school ...........The Fonz
You cannot teach a man anything;  you can only help him find it within himself..........Galileo Galilei
Sometimes I deliberately make mistakes, just to test you!  …………….Bob

JaneFairfax

Member

Registered: 2007-02-23

Posts: 6,868

Re: Four People Travel

or can anyone explain why there are not lots of solutions:

There are at most 4! = 24 solutions and 24 is not a lot, is it?

Bob

Administrator

Registered: 2010-06-20

Posts: 10,623

Re: Four People Travel

Hi JaneFairfax,

If we're comparing the distance from my house to Billericay (=24 miles) with the distance to Alpha Centauri ( approx. 24807799074834.8 miles) then you are right.

But if the question was "How many Jimmy Grimbles are there?" then 24 is definitely lots!

Perhaps I'm being too narrow in outlook, but I expect logic questions to have just the one answer.

Bob

---

Children are not defined by school ...........The Fonz
You cannot teach a man anything;  you can only help him find it within himself..........Galileo Galilei
Sometimes I deliberately make mistakes, just to test you!  …………….Bob

JaneFairfax

Member

Registered: 2007-02-23

Posts: 6,868

Re: Four People Travel

Well, this particular puzzle definitely does not have a unique solution. More clues are needed.

Bob

Administrator

Registered: 2010-06-20

Posts: 10,623

Re: Four People Travel

Hi JaneFairfax,

Thanks for confirming that.

Bob

---

Children are not defined by school ...........The Fonz
You cannot teach a man anything;  you can only help him find it within himself..........Galileo Galilei
Sometimes I deliberately make mistakes, just to test you!  …………….Bob

mashplum

Member

Registered: 2011-11-02

Posts: 4

Re: Four People Travel

I am always looking for sites with intelligent puzzles. Invariably, they all have stuff like. Notice that no question is even asked, but we should assume that we are meant to assign a vehicle to each person. We should also expect there to be only one solution. In order for this to be the case, we must read the clues from another point of view and get information that is the opposite of what we would expect. "John gets seasick." could be interpreted as, "John is prone to seasickness and therefore does not go by ship." or it could be interpreted as, "John gets seasick on this particular voyage, therefore he must be on the ship." Similarly, we can assume that Mr. Jones hates flying because he is required to do it all the time, including this trip. That means Rachel is on the train, Cindy is in a rented car, John is unhappily sailing on the ship, and Mr. Jones is not happy about being on the plane. This is the only answer I can find that is remotely satisfying, but it is still a very poor logic puzzle.

nightstrider

Member

Registered: 2013-12-15

Posts: 3

Re: Four People Travel

I think there is one and only one solution.

John gets seasick so he must be on the ship.
Cindy had to rent so she is using a car.
Mr. Jones hates flying so he booked the train.
Rachel is therefore on the plane.

Bob

Administrator

Registered: 2010-06-20

Posts: 10,623

Re: Four People Travel

hi nightstrider,

Wow.  It's a while since I saw this thread.  If you are interpreting 'John gets seasick' as meaning he is now suffering from this malady because he has unwisely chosen to go by ship, then I'm happy with your analysis.

That's the trouble with the English language; it can be ambiguous.  It made me laugh when I heard this on the news: 'He sailed the Atlantic, single handed.

Most people interpret the puzzle differently; 'John gets seasick' = John knows he will suffer if he goes by ship so he avoids this option.

Nice try!   Welcome to the forum.

Bob

ps.  Sorry, I cannot comment there on your post about the professor because of a promise I made  in post 56.  I think I dealt with the fault in the student logic in post 50.

And I also demonstrated that you can make statements of this type logically and consistently and make them come true.  That's what posts 56 and 65 were all about. 

Last edited by Bob (2013-12-15 20:52:00)

---

Children are not defined by school ...........The Fonz
You cannot teach a man anything;  you can only help him find it within himself..........Galileo Galilei
Sometimes I deliberately make mistakes, just to test you!  …………….Bob

Newton1997

Member

Registered: 2015-08-03

Posts: 1

Re: Four People Travel

Answer to this is:
Cindy- Car
John- Ship as he gets seasick
Mr. Jones- Train as he hates flying
Rachel- Plane as it's the only one left