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Question

The houses of three sisters lie in the same row, but the middle sister does not live in the middle house. In the morning, the shadow of the eldest sister's house falls on the youngest sister's house. What can be concluded for sure?

The correct answer is
Either the youngest or the eldest sister lives in the middle.

Analyzing the House Positions

There are three houses in a row. Let's label the positions from West to East as 1, 2, and 3.

We are given two key pieces of information:

  • The middle sister does not live in the middle house (position 2). This means the middle sister lives in either position 1 or position 3.
  • In the morning, the sun is in the East. Shadows fall towards the West. The shadow of the eldest sister's house falls on the youngest sister's house. This implies the eldest sister's house is located to the East of the youngest sister's house.

Deducing Possible Arrangements

Based on the shadow information, the eldest sister must be positioned East relative to the youngest sister. Let's examine the possible arrangements:

Scenario 1: Middle Sister lives in Position 1

If the middle sister occupies position 1, the remaining positions (2 and 3) must be occupied by the youngest and eldest sisters.

Since the eldest sister's house is East of the youngest sister's house, the arrangement must be:

  • Position 1: Middle Sister
  • Position 2: Youngest Sister
  • Position 3: Eldest Sister

In this scenario, the youngest sister lives in the middle house (position 2).

Scenario 2: Middle Sister lives in Position 3

If the middle sister occupies position 3, the remaining positions (1 and 2) must be occupied by the youngest and eldest sisters.

Since the eldest sister's house is East of the youngest sister's house, the arrangement must be:

  • Position 1: Youngest Sister
  • Position 2: Eldest Sister
  • Position 3: Middle Sister

In this scenario, the eldest sister lives in the middle house (position 2).

Final Conclusion

The two possible valid arrangements show that either the youngest sister (Scenario 1) or the eldest sister (Scenario 2) lives in the middle house.

Therefore, it can be concluded for sure that either the youngest or the eldest sister lives in the middle.

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Important Questions from Ordering and Ranking (Notes)

  1. The sixth largest three-digit odd number among those with all digits distinct is
  2. A transformation experiment is performed with two Pneumococcal strains. One strain is resistant to four drugs - A, B, C, and D, whereas the other is sensitive to all the drugs. Both strains are mixed and the mixture is plated on media containing various combinations of the drugs. The colonies obtained on these plates are given below:
    Drugs added No. of colonies Drugs added No. of colonies
    A 1156 CD 786
    B 1148 ABC 30
    C 1161 ABD 42
    D 1139 ACD 630
    AB 46 BCD 36
    AC 640 ABCD 30
    AD 942
    BC 51

    Based on the above results, which one of the below options represents the most likely order of the drug-resistance genes?
  3. There are five boys P, Q, R, S and T sitting in a row facing North such that P is right of Q and T is left of R and right of P. Q is right of S. Which boy is in the middle of the row?
  4. Each of P, Q, R, S, T, U and V has an exam on a different day of a week starting from Monday and ending on Sunday of the same week. Q has an exam on Thursday and U has an exam on Saturday. T has an exam immediately before S. P has an exam on one of the days after V. R has an exam immediately after S. How many people have exams between R and P?

  5. Among five people of different ages, P is older than R. L is younger than M. R is older than Y. M is younger than Y. Who is the youngest?
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