We all hate homework

Logic Level 3

Ava, Elle, and Hannah are doing their school homework. While each of them is working on only one subject (distinct from each other's) out of mathematics, geography, and history, the following dialog takes place:

Ava says, "I'm currently not working on mathematics."
Elle replies, "I'm currently not working on history."

Hannah also claims that she is not currently working on one of the three subjects, but it is not known to us what subject that is.

After some thought Ava shouts, "I know what homework everyone is doing!"

Given that all of them speak the truth, what is the subject that Hannah says she is not currently working on?

History Geography Mathematics There is insufficient information

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1 solution

Pi Han Goh
Jan 25, 2016

Let's construct the puzzle grid first:

Mathematics Geography History Ava Elle Hannah \begin{array} {c | c | c | c } & \text{Mathematics} & \text{Geography} & \text{History} \\ \hline \text{Ava} & & & \\ \hline \text{Elle} & & & \\ \hline \text{Hannah} & & & \\ \end{array}

We are given that Ava is currently not working on mathematics and Elle is currently not working on history. We fill the corresponding cells with X's to represent this information, as shown in the following table:

Mathematics Geography History Ava × Elle × Hannah \begin{array} {c | c | c | c } & \text{Mathematics} & \text{Geography} & \text{History} \\ \hline \text{Ava} & \times & & \\ \hline \text{Elle} & & & \times \\ \hline \text{Hannah} & & & \\ \end{array}

Now we have 3 cases to work on:

Hannah is either
(i) currently not working on mathematics, or
(ii) currently not working on geography, or
(iii) currently not working on history.

Suppose that (i) Hannah is currently not working on mathematics, then adding an X to the relevant cell gives the following table:

Mathematics Geography History Ava × Elle × Hannah × \begin{array} {c | c | c | c } & \text{Mathematics} & \text{Geography} & \text{History} \\ \hline \text{Ava} & \times & & \\ \hline \text{Elle} & & & \times \\ \hline \text{Hannah} & \times & & \\ \end{array}

With that, we will know that Elle must be working on mathematics, as shown in the following table:

Mathematics Geography History Ava × Elle × × Hannah × \begin{array} {c | c | c | c } & \text{Mathematics} & \text{Geography} & \text{History} \\ \hline \text{Ava} & \times & & \\ \hline \text{Elle} & \checkmark & \times & \times \\ \hline \text{Hannah} & \times & & \\ \end{array}

Then since Ava knows what subject she is studying, it's possible to complete the table as such (depending on her own subject), as shown in the following 2 tables:

Mathematics Geography History Ava × × Elle × × Hannah × × \begin{array} {c | c | c | c } & \text{Mathematics} & \text{Geography} & \text{History} \\ \hline \text{Ava} & \times & \checkmark & \times \\ \hline \text{Elle} & \checkmark & \times & \times \\ \hline \text{Hannah} & \times & \times & \checkmark \\ \end{array}

Mathematics Geography History Ava × × Elle × × Hannah × × \begin{array} {c | c | c | c } & \text{Mathematics} & \text{Geography} & \text{History} \\ \hline \text{Ava} & \times & \times & \checkmark \\ \hline \text{Elle} & \checkmark & \times & \times \\ \hline \text{Hannah} & \times & \checkmark & \times \\ \end{array}

So (i) can be a possible solution. Thus it is indeed true that Ava (truthfully) made the claim that she knows what subject everyone is doing.

Similarly, we can show that (ii) and (iii) are possible claims too.

Because we have shown that it is possible to have at least 2 possible claims, we as the reader can't determine what subject that Hannah says she is not currently working on.

Moderator note:

Good clear explanation. Stating the cases allow us to keep track of what is happening.

Very challenging!

Akhash Raja Raam - 5 years, 3 months ago

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Thank you! Do try this too!

Pi Han Goh - 5 years, 3 months ago

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