[Guest]

You have the chance to take your room in the "Masters Plaza", a hotel in which 5 masters (5 of the most intelligent people who ever lived) are present. The hotel consists of 5 rooms and a small restaurant that contains 5 tables. Each master has a rank which shows his level of thinking with respect to the whole group. The master with the first rank is said to be the head master, and he is not you. Rooms, as well as tables, are successively numbered from 1 to 5 in a way that each master lives in a room and eats on a table different in number from his rank. To avoid confrontation, masters with successive ranks are neither allowed to live in rooms next to each other nor to eat on tables next to each other. The four present masters are: Albert Einstein, Galileo Galilei, Hassan Issa and Archimedes. To have your room in the Plaza, you just have to know your rank, table number and room number knowing that:

Archimedes doesn't eat on the fifth table.

Einstein is not the head master.

Archimedes has exactly the middle rank between Hassan and You.

Einstein is more intelligent than Archimedes.

Galileo eats on a table next to that of Einstein.

Hassan does not eat on a table with the same number as his room number.

The Question: What are the ranks, room numbers, and table numbers of the five masters?

Copyright © 2005 by Hassan Issa, Lebanon. Published on this website with permission.

[Guest jdmensa]

Unless I'm missing something....

Einstein has to be ranked 2nd.

He is not head master (not #1).

He is smarter than Archimedes (not #5).

To fit with the clues provided, Archimedes can only be #4. (And, he is sandwiched--so #3, #4 & #5 spots are taken by Issa, Arch, and me)

Therefore, Einstein's only possible rank is #2.

That leaves only the #1 spot vacant for Galilei.

The OP states "To avoid confrontation, masters with successive ranks are neither allowed to live in rooms next to each other nor to eat on tables next to each other."

So, the 5th clue "Galileo eats on a table next to that of Einstein." is incorrect.

In addition,

Granted, I'm going through this as quickly as I can (gotta get going) but, it appears more information is needed. There is too little info on rooms/tables.

[spoiler='Ranks....

']Einstein - 2nd

Galilei - 1st

Issa - 3 or 5

Archimedes - 4

Me - 3 or 5

Rooms ?

Tables ?

[Guest]

Unless I'm missing something....

Archimedes has exactly the middle rank between Hassan and You.

Which means he could be third with you and Hassan as first and fifth. Since you aren't first, that leave Hassan in First and you Fifth.

the following ranks.

1 - Hassan

2 - Einstein

3 - Archimedes

4 - Galileo

5 - You

The tables go like so:

1 - Archimedes

2 - Hassan

3 - You

4 - Einstein

5 - Galileo

And room assignments are:

1 - Einstein

2 - Galileo

3 - Hassan

4 - You

5 - Archimedes

So, my rank is 5, table is 3, and room is 4. Where's my key to the Plaza?

[TwoaDay]

GJ and welcome to brainden someweirdguy

[Guest jdmensa]

Guess I'm no Einstein...

I read the clue as though Arch was sandwiched, rather than being an exact distance away from Issa and me...

[Guest jdmensa]

I read the clue as though Arch was sandwiched, rather than being an exact distance away from Issa and me...

With the number of views for tihs topic (and almost no replies), I'm guessing others may have read it the same way as I. After seeing the answer posted, I was a bit curious and did a Google search. I found the same puzzle with the answers listed on another site. Guess I could have done that earlier, but that wouldn't have seemed too fair when trying to solve a puzzle..

[Guest]

GJ and welcome to brainden someweirdguy

Thanks.

I've been lurking around Brainden for a little while, but something about this puzzle just made me want to register and post the solution.

[Guest]

It's quite a nice trial-and-error style logic puzzle. I would love to spell out the entire logic path to spell out how each option is disproved, but I think that the answer will suffice in this case, saving hours of typing, and your boredom in reading it.

Rank1 - Hassan - Room#3 - Table#2

Rank2 - Einstein - Room#1 - Table#4

Rank3 - Archimedes - Room#5 - Table#1

Rank4 - Galileo - Room#2 - Table#5

Rank5 - You - Room#4 - Table#3

If I could offer a hint on how to solve it...

Using a traditional logic chart helps a lot with this one because you can partially solve the puzzle with the clues without having to infer anything. Once that is done, the other clues give just enough information so that you can use a trial and error system to disprove options based on who may sit/live by whom, each time leaving one option that satisfies all of the clues.

Edited July 27, 2008 by JHBoulder

[Guest]

Not sure if there are any other soln. Still checking.

H -rank 1 - table 2 - room 3

E - 2 - 4 - 1

A - 3 - 1 - 5

G - 4 - 5 - 2

Me - 5 - 3 - 4

[Guest]

Not sure if there are any other soln. Still checking.

No. No other solution.

matador and JHBoulder welcome to brainden

Edited July 27, 2008 by Drydung

[Guest]

Albert Einstein: Rank-2 Table-4 Room-1

Galileo Galilei: Rank-4 Table-5 Room-2

Archimedes: Rank-3 Table-1 Room-5

Hassan Issa: Rank-1 Table-2 Room-3

Me: Rank-5 Table-3 Room-4

[Guest]

Rank

1) Hassan

2) Einstein

3) Archimedes

4) Me or Galileo

5) Me or Galileo

Table

1) Archimedes

2) Hassan

3) Me or Galileo

4) Einstein

5) Me or Galileo

Room

1) Einstein

2) Me or Galileo

3) Hassan

4) Me or Galileo

5) Archimedes

this was a fun puzzle

[Guest]

Rank

1) Hassan

2) Einstein

3) Archimedes

4) Galileo

5) Me

Table

1) Archimedes

2) Hassan

3) Me

4) Einstein

5) Galileo

Room

1) Einstein

2) Galileo

3) Hassan

4) Me

5) Archimedes

[Guest]

Found this via iGoogle. It took me about an hour tosolve and I checked it against the answers here. Very stimulating puzzle. ^^

[Guest]

Found this via iGoogle. It took me about an hour tosolve and I checked it against the answers here. Very stimulating puzzle. ^^

Welcome to Brainden Seilann !!! Hope you have as much fun as we have

[Guest]

I got the same answer as almost everyone here, with one exception. I see how yours is possible, but could my room not be fifth and Archimedes fourth? The only objection I could think of is that the wording of the puzzle might suggest that the room of the master and his rank can't be the same. However, since one of the clues is that hassan's rank is not his room (which would be a foregone conclusion if that was actually the rule), I assumed it was not. Is there any other reason my solution wouldn't work too?

[Guest]

Rank: 1) Hassan Issa

2) Albert Einstein

3) Archimedes

4) Galileo Galilei

5) Me

Table 1) Archimedes

2) Hassan Issa

3) Me

4) Albert Einstein

5) Galileo Galilei

Room 1) Albert Einstein

2) Galileo Galilei

3) Hassan Issa

4) Me

5) Archimedes

[Guest]

Got the same answer quickly because there was an additional clue. Hassan is a huge egotist so we can assume he put himself as the smartest and You as teh dumbest of the five.

Edited August 4, 2008 by Feegs

[Guest]

It's quite a nice trial-and-error style logic puzzle. I would love to spell out the entire logic path to spell out how each option is disproved, but I think that the answer will suffice in this case, saving hours of typing, and your boredom in reading it.

Rank1 - Hassan - Room#3 - Table#2

Rank2 - Einstein - Room#1 - Table#4

Rank3 - Archimedes - Room#5 - Table#1

Rank4 - Galileo - Room#2 - Table#5

Rank5 - You - Room#4 - Table#3

If I could offer a hint on how to solve it...

Using a traditional logic chart helps a lot with this one because you can partially solve the puzzle with the clues without having to infer anything. Once that is done, the other clues give just enough information so that you can use a trial and error system to disprove options based on who may sit/live by whom, each time leaving one option that satisfies all of the clues.

Got the same answer quickly because there was an additional clue. Hassan is a huge egotist so we can assume he put himself as the smartest and You as teh dumbest of the five.