The puzzle
Sneha, Sanjay, Farhan, Isha, Zoya 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.
- Farhan sits somewhere to the right of Zoya.
- Zoya sits somewhere to the right of Sanjay.
- Isha sits immediately to the left of Sanjay.
- Sneha sits at the far-left (extreme) end of the row.
Question: What is the seating order from far-left to far-right?
Reveal the answer
Answer: Sneha, Isha, Sanjay, Zoya, Farhan (left to right).
Seat 1SnehaSeat 2IshaSeat 3SanjaySeat 4ZoyaSeat 5Farhan
- Start: 120 possible left-to-right orders of 5 people.
- Clue 1 — "Farhan sits somewhere to the right of Zoya." leaves 60 possibilities.
- Clue 2 — "Zoya sits somewhere to the right of Sanjay." leaves 20 possibilities.
- Clue 3 — "Isha sits immediately to the left of Sanjay." leaves 4 possibilities.
- Clue 4 — "Sneha sits at the far-left (extreme) end of the row." leaves 1 possibility.
- Exactly one order survives every clue — that is the answer.