Reasoning Puzzles

In puzzles, candidates are provided with the data in jumbled or haphazard format. One need to arrange them in an meaningful order or format to decipher the correct information from given data. It checks the candidate’s mental and analytical ability to decipher and analyze the given data into a meaningful and judgmental form.

Puzzle questions are little bit time consuming ,but systematic method of finding the solutions makes it interesting .

Types of Reasoning puzzles based on number of variables

Two variable puzzles
Three Variable Puzzles

Two Variable puzzle Example

Study the following information carefully and answer the given question.

P, R, T, V, X, Y, and Z are seven different people who belong to different cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru, Jaipur, and Surat, not necessarily in the same order. P is not from Chennai. V is neither from Surat nor from Bengaluru. Either X or T is from Delhi. Y is from Mumbai. R is not from Bengaluru. V is neither from Pune nor from Chennai. Z is either from Surat or Bengaluru. T is not from Chennai. R is neither from Pune nor from Chennai.

Which city does R belong to?

Solution:

Seven People: P, R, T, V, X, Y, and Z.

Cities’ Name: Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru, Jaipur, and Surat

Make a table as follows

Note: All the information is not necessarily in the same order.Let us divide the question as follows .

P is not from Chennai.
V is neither from Surat nor from Bengaluru.
Either X or T is from Delhi.
Y is from Mumbai.
R is not from Bengaluru.
V is neither from Pune nor from Chennai.
Z is either from Surat or Bengaluru.
T is not from Chennai.
R is neither from Pune nor from Chennai.

Look for the specific statement first.

Here 4th statement is a specific statement.

From 4th statement y is from Mumbai. Strike of other possibilities. Strike off Mumbai from other rows

Statement 1 - P is not from Chennai.

Statement 2- V is neither from Surat nor from Bengaluru

Staemnet 3. Either X or T is from Delhi. From this we can infer that other people are not from delhi. So strike off Delhi from other rows.

Statement 5. R is not from Bengaluru.

Statement 6. V is neither from Pune nor from Chennai.

From above table we get V is from Jaipur ,strike of other Jaipur

Statement 7. Z is either from Surat or Bengaluru

Statement 8. T is not from Chennai

Statement 9 . R is neither from Pune nor from Chennai

From above table R is from Surat. Let us find remaining peoples places too. Strike off Surat from other rows .

Now from above table we get Z is from Bengaluru, so strike off other Bengaluru.

Now from above table we get P is from Pune, so strike off other Pune.

From above table T is from Delhi,so remaining X is from Chennai .

Final result will be as follows.

Three Variable puzzle Example

Ajay decorated his house by coordinating orange and three other colour for walls, carpet and curtains of four rooms.From the in formation given below , determine the colour of carpet , walls and curtains for each room and answer the following questions.

i. Yellow was the only colour used in all the four rooms.It was at least once for walls, carpets and curtains.
ii. Three different colours were used in each room but only the dining room and the bedroom were decorated in the same three colours
iii. The same colour was choosen for the curtains in the bedroom, the carpet in the living room and walls in the dining room.That colour was not used at all in the study room.
iv. The only room with both green and grey in its colour scheme had carpet of the same colour as in the dining room.
v. Grey was the only colour used exactly twice- both times for curtains.
vi. The study room walls were painted the same colour as the living room walls
v. Grey was the only colour used exactly twice- both times for curtains.

1.Which of the following room has orange curtains and green walls ?

a) Dining room

b) Living room

c) Bedroom

d) Study room

e) None of these

2.Which of the rooms have green carpets?

a) Dining room and bedroom

b) Study room and living room

c) Living room and dining room

d) Study room and dining room

e) None of these

3.Which room did not use grey colour at all?

a) Dining room

b) Cannot say

c) Study room

d) Living room

e) None of these

4.The dining room has__ curtains.

a) Green

b) Yellow

c) Orange

d) Grey

e) None of these

5.Yellow-Green-orange colour combination

is used in which room?

a) Dining room

b) Bed room

c) Study room

d) Living room

e) Dining room and bed room

6.Orange is used how many times?

a) Two

b) Three

c) Four

d) Five

e) None of these

From above statement it is evident that two rooms have grey curtain and grey is used exactly two times. So all other chances of grey is striked off.

Statement iii. The same colour was chosen for the curtains in the bedroom, the carpet in the living room and walls in the dining room. That colour was not used at all in the study room.

From the above statement color used for curtains in the bedroom, the carpet in the living room and walls in the dining room is not grey or yellow, because grey is used twice only.

In statement ii. It is given that only the dining room and the bedroom were decorated in the same three colours .From above grey is not used in bedroom so in dining room also.

So first two rows will be either living or study room. Last two rows will be either dining or bedroom.Statement iv. The only room with both green and grey in its colour scheme had carpet of the same colour as in the dining room.

So,either living or study room uses green-grey combination If green and grey is used in a room then third color is yellow (refer statement i.). So either living or study room does not use orange. Strike off orange in one row. Since Green-grey is used once only ,strike off other green.

Statement vi. The study room walls were painted the same colour as the living room walls.

From this we can infer that study room walls and living room walls are painted in yellow. Because green –grey combination is used once and orange in not present in either of living or study room .

In statement I Three different colours were used in each room, so in first row strike off yellow from carpet column . and in second column strike off yellow from carpet column.

In statement iii. The same colour was chosen for the curtains in the bedroom, the carpet in the living room and walls in the dining room. That colour was not used at all in the study room.
From above table curtains in the bedroom is - yellow/green/orange
carpet in the living is -green/orange Wall in dining room is -yellow/green/orange . So mentioned color is either green/orange. Strike off yellow from bedroom curtain and dining room wall .let third row be dining and fourth row be bed room .

From statement iv. The only room with both green and grey in its colour scheme had carpet of the same colour as in the dining room ,we will get dining room carpet is green .

Since yellow must be used at least once in a room, Dining room curtain will be Yellow.

From statement ii. Three different colours were used in each room , Dining room carpet will be orange.
but only the dining room and the bedroom were decorated in the same three colours.

From statement iii. The same colour was choosen for the curtains in the bedroom, the carpet in the living room and walls in the dining room.That colour was not used at all in the study room.

Bed room curtain – green/orange
Carpet in living room – green/orange
Wall in Dining room –orange
From above bed room curtain is orange.

And from second part of statement iii . this color(orange ) was not used at all in the study room . There for first row is study room and second row is living room .

Since three different colors where used ,strike off other oranges from Bed room.

From statement i. Yellow was atleast used once for wall ,carpet and curtain.So, Bedroom carpet will be Yellow.

From Statement ii. three different colours where used in each room, so Bed room wall will be green.

So Final color combination is as follows .

Solution :1. c, 2. d,3. a,4. b,5. e,6. b

EXAMSPIRE

Pages