Question 20
HardOriginal questionSix friends, Arjun, Bindu, Deepak, Esha, Harish and Jyoti, attend the same music class. Each plays a different instrument (tabla, veena, harmonium, flute, violin or sitar) and each has a different favourite fruit (guava, lychee, mango, jamun, papaya or orange). The following is known:
1. The friend who likes mango plays the harmonium.
2. Jyoti plays the sitar, and Esha plays the flute.
3. Arjun likes guava. He plays neither the veena nor the violin.
4. The friend who plays the violin likes papaya.
5. Bindu does not like papaya, and Harish likes neither mango nor lychee.
6. Neither Esha nor Jyoti likes lychee or mango.
7. The flute player does not like orange, and Deepak does not play the veena.
Who in the music class plays the harmonium?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Jyoti plays the sitar and Esha the flute (clue 2). Arjun likes guava, so he cannot play the harmonium (that player likes mango, clue 1); he is barred from veena and violin (clue 3), so Arjun plays the tabla.
Veena, violin and harmonium are left for Bindu, Deepak and Harish. Harish does not like mango (clue 5), so he is not the harmonium player; Deepak does not play the veena (clue 7).
Case Deepak = violin: then Harish = veena and Bindu = harmonium (mango). The fruits left for Esha, Jyoti and Harish are lychee, jamun and orange, but none of them may take lychee (clues 5 and 6). Impossible.
So Deepak = harmonium (mango). Bindu cannot take the violin, whose player likes papaya (clues 4 and 5), so Bindu = veena and Harish = violin (papaya). Lychee, jamun and orange remain; Esha and Jyoti cannot take lychee, so Bindu likes lychee; the flute player Esha does not like orange (clue 7), so Esha likes jamun and Jyoti orange.
Deepak plays the harmonium.
Worth noting
Bindu survives every direct clue; only the case split in step 3 (it leaves no fruit for Harish) removes her.
- Concept
- Case splitting when two placements look possible
- Typical timeTypical
- 125 s
- Your timeYours
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