The puzzle
Aditi, Rahul, Yash, Anjali, Nikhil, Meera 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.
- Rahul sits immediately to the right of Yash.
- Anjali sits immediately to the right of Nikhil.
- Aditi sits somewhere to the left of Meera.
- Nikhil sits somewhere to the left of Aditi.
- Rahul sits immediately to the left of Nikhil.
Question: What is the seating order from far-left to far-right?
Reveal the answer
Answer: Yash, Rahul, Nikhil, Anjali, Aditi, Meera (left to right).
Seat 1YashSeat 2RahulSeat 3NikhilSeat 4AnjaliSeat 5AditiSeat 6Meera
- Start: 720 possible left-to-right orders of 6 people.
- Clue 1 — "Rahul sits immediately to the right of Yash." leaves 120 possibilities.
- Clue 2 — "Anjali sits immediately to the right of Nikhil." leaves 24 possibilities.
- Clue 3 — "Aditi sits somewhere to the left of Meera." leaves 12 possibilities.
- Clue 4 — "Nikhil sits somewhere to the left of Aditi." leaves 4 possibilities.
- Clue 5 — "Rahul sits immediately to the left of Nikhil." leaves 1 possibility.
- Exactly one order survives every clue — that is the answer.