Age problem

Logic Level 3

John and Bettan are friends with Noah. They wanted to know when Noah's birthday is, Noah gives list of 10 possibilities :

May 15 May 16 May 19 June 17 June 18 July 14 July 16 August 14 August 15 August 17 \text{May 15} \quad\quad\quad\text{ May 16} \quad\quad\quad\text{ May 19}\\ \text{June 17} \quad\quad\quad\text{ June 18} \\ \text{July 14} \quad\quad\quad\text{ July 16} \\ \text{August 14}\quad\quad\quad\text{ August 15}\quad\quad\quad\text{ August 17}

Noah tells his birthday's day and month respectively to Bettan and John.

John : I don’t know when’s Noah birthday, sure John doesn’t knew too Bettan : At first I too don’t know, but I now know his birthday John : I too knew Noah’s birthday \text{John : I don't know when's Noah birthday, sure John doesn't knew too} \\ \text{Bettan : At first I too don't know, but I now know his birthday} \\ \text{John : I too knew Noah's birthday}

So, when is Noah's birthday?

* If you got the answer, post a solution how. Just don't guess, apply a lot of logic *

This problem has been asked by a 14 year old student!

May 19 June 17 August 14 August 15 May 15 July 16 May 16 July 14

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2 solutions

Viki Zeta
Aug 4, 2016

I'll edit this to give my own simple answer later, for now the answer is:

*From the first statement, we know that Albert is sure that Bernard doesn't know the birthday, so May and June should be ruled out (the day 19 only appears in May and the day 18 only appears in June). In other words, if Albert had May or June, then he cannot be sure that Bernard doesn't know, since Bernard could have had 18 or 19.

Following that statement, Bernard knows that May and June are ruled out.

Then, Bernard is able to know which month it is. So it must be either July 16, August 15 and August 17 (not 14th as then he can't know).

Since Albert subsequently can also be sure of the date, he must know it's July. If it's August, he can't be sure as there is August 15 and 17.*

So the answer is July 16.

who is bernard and albert? i thought it was supposed to be john and bettan! plus, i think there is a typo in problem: the first statement, john is referring to himself in third person. Great solution though!

Siva Budaraju - 4 years, 7 months ago
Ku John
Aug 4, 2016

took quite a while

Goodluck solving.

Viki Zeta - 4 years, 10 months ago

btw this came out for my singapore math olympiad when i was grade 5

ku john - 4 years, 10 months ago

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This was published by a 14 year old Singapore student!

Viki Zeta - 4 years, 10 months ago

my real age is 17 btw

ku john - 4 years, 10 months ago

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