The puzzle
Esha, Anjali, Imran, Jaya, Rohan, Lata sit in a single row, all facing north. Seat 1 is the far-left end and seat 6 is the far-right end. Using the clues below, work out the order from left to right.
- Esha sits immediately to the left of Jaya.
- Lata sits somewhere to the right of Jaya.
- Imran sits at the far-right (extreme) end of the row.
- Imran sits immediately to the right of Anjali.
- Rohan sits somewhere to the left of Esha.
Question: What is the seating order from far-left to far-right?
Reveal the answer
Answer: Rohan, Esha, Jaya, Lata, Anjali, Imran (left to right).
Seat 1RohanSeat 2EshaSeat 3JayaSeat 4LataSeat 5AnjaliSeat 6Imran
- Start: 720 possible left-to-right orders of 6 people.
- Clue 1 — "Esha sits immediately to the left of Jaya." leaves 120 possibilities.
- Clue 2 — "Lata sits somewhere to the right of Jaya." leaves 60 possibilities.
- Clue 3 — "Imran sits at the far-right (extreme) end of the row." leaves 12 possibilities.
- Clue 4 — "Imran sits immediately to the right of Anjali." leaves 3 possibilities.
- Clue 5 — "Rohan sits somewhere to the left of Esha." leaves 1 possibility.
- Exactly one order survives every clue — that is the answer.