The puzzle
Gauri, Jaya, Divya, Kiran, Uma sit in a single row, all facing north. Seat 1 is the far-left end and seat 5 is the far-right end. Using the clues below, work out the order from left to right.
- Uma sits immediately to the right of Kiran.
- Exactly 1 person sits between Gauri and Uma.
- Gauri sits somewhere to the left of Jaya.
- Gauri sits somewhere to the right of Uma.
- Divya sits immediately to the left of Gauri.
Question: What is the seating order from far-left to far-right?
Reveal the answer
Answer: Kiran, Uma, Divya, Gauri, Jaya (left to right).
Seat 1KiranSeat 2UmaSeat 3DivyaSeat 4GauriSeat 5Jaya
- Start: 120 possible left-to-right orders of 5 people.
- Clue 1 — "Uma sits immediately to the right of Kiran." leaves 24 possibilities.
- Clue 2 — "Exactly 1 person sits between Gauri and Uma." leaves 10 possibilities.
- Clue 3 — "Gauri sits somewhere to the left of Jaya." leaves 4 possibilities.
- Clue 4 — "Gauri sits somewhere to the right of Uma." leaves 1 possibility.
- Clue 5 — "Divya sits immediately to the left of Gauri." leaves 1 possibility.
- Exactly one order survives every clue — that is the answer.