Time to train!

Logic Level 3

Professor McGonagall digs up some history and brings out a rather intriguing example of a House Cup when only three houses competed, namely Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The three houses participated in a series of events.

Points were awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places in each event (the same points for each event, that is 1st always gets x x points, 2nd always gets y y points, and 3rd always gets z z points), with x > y > z > 0 x>y>z>0 , and all point values being integers.

In that House Cup,

  • Gryffindor finished first overall with 22 points.
  • Slytherin won the Quidditch event and finished with 9 points overall.
  • Ravenclaw also finished with 9 points overall.

Which house finished second in the OWL (Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations, it was one of the events in the House Cup that year)?

Source: Technothlon 2017

Cannot be said. Slytherin Gryffindor Ravenclaw

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

1 solution

Chew-Seong Cheong
Jul 17, 2017

Let the number of events be n n . Since three houses competed and three places were awarded in every event, all the points awarded in n n events were received by the three houses. Therefore, we have n ( x + y + z ) = 22 + 9 + 9 = 40 n(x+y+z) = 22+9+9 = 40 . Since the minimum of s = x + y + z s=x+y+z is 3 + 2 + 1 = 6 3+2+1=6 , n < 7 n < 7 . As both n n and s s are positive integers, ( n , s ) (n,s) can only be ( 1 , 40 ) (1,40) , ( 2 , 20 ) (2,20) , ( 4 , 10 ) (4,10) and ( 5 , 8 ) (5,8) .

  • If n = 1 n=1 , then one house would have scored x x , one y y and the last z z and Slytherin and Ravenclaw would not score the same. Therefore, n 1 n \ne 1 .
  • If n = 2 n=2 , then Glyffindor would have scored x + y x+y , Slytherin, who won the Quidditch event, x + z x+z , and Ravenclaw, y + z y+z . But x + z y + z x+z \ne y+z , so n 2 n \ne 2 .
  • If n = 4 n=4 , then s = 10 s=10 . The possible ( x , y , z ) = ( 7 , 2 , 1 ) , ( 6 , 3 , 1 ) , ( 5 , 4 , 1 ) , ( 5 , 3 , 2 ) (x,y,z) = (7,2,1), (6,3,1),(5,4,1), (5,3,2) . Since Slytherin won an x x , the only possible overall score was x + z + z + z = 6 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 9 x+z+z+z = 6+1+1+1 = 9 . But no other combination from the set ( x , y , z ) = ( 6 , 3 , 1 ) (x,y,z)=(6,3,1) could yield 9 for Ravenclaw. So n 4 n\ne 4 .
  • Then n n must be 5 and s = 8 s=8 . The possible ( x , y , z ) = ( 5 , 2 , 1 ) , ( 4 , 3 , 1 ) (x,y,z) = (5,2,1), (4,3,1) . The only possible Slytherin's overall score is x + z + z + z + z = 5 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 9 x+z+z+z+z = 5+1+1+1+1=9 . Ravenclaw's overall score is y + y + y + y + z = 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 9 y+y+y+y+z=2+2+2+2+1=9 and Gryffindor's, x + x + x + x + y = 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 2 = 22 x+x+x+x+y=5+5+5+5+2=22 .

Overall placing of the three houses

Place Event 1 Event 2 Event 3 OWL Quidditch 1st G r y f f i n d o r G r y f f i n d o r G r y f f i n d o r G r y f f i n d o r S l y t h e r i n 2nd R a v e n c l a w R a v e n c l a w R a v e n c l a w R a v e n c l a w G r y f f i n d o r 3rd S l y t h e r i n S l y t h e r i n S l y t h e r i n S l y t h e r i n R a v e n c l a w \begin{array} {cccccc} \text{Place} & \text{Event 1} & \text{Event 2} & \text{Event 3} & \text{OWL} & \text{Quidditch} \\ \hline \text{1st} & \color{#D61F06} Gryffindor & \color{#D61F06} Gryffindor & \color{#D61F06} Gryffindor & \color{#D61F06} Gryffindor & Slytherin \\ \text{2nd} & \color{#3D99F6}Ravenclaw & \color{#3D99F6}Ravenclaw & \color{#3D99F6}Ravenclaw & \color{#3D99F6}Ravenclaw & \color{#D61F06} Gryffindor \\ \text{3rd} & Slytherin & Slytherin & Slytherin & Slytherin & \color{#3D99F6}Ravenclaw \end{array}

Therefore, R a v e n c l a w \color{#3D99F6}\boxed{Ravenclaw} finished second in OWL.

@naitik sanghavi Can U send me paper of technothlon Hauts,pls???Pls,Pls Btw u in which class?

Kaustubh Miglani - 3 years, 10 months ago

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...