Three acrobats, named Fred, Herman, and Joe, form a shoulder stack. Fred always tells the truth, Herman sometimes tells the truth, whereas Joe never does.
Based on their statements, identify each person. Explain how you arrived at your conclusion.
Solution by Galina Gagin , East Grand Rapids High School
The acrobats, naming them from top to bottom, are: Joe, Herman, Fred. We know that the first acrobat is not Fred, since he claims 'Fred' to be in the middle and Fred always tells the truth. Furthermore, we know that Fred is not the second acrobat, as the second claims to be Herman. Again, Fred only tells the truth. Thus, Fred must be the acrobat on the bottom. We then know that the top acrobat is Joe since Fred always tells the truth, and the bottom acrobat claims Joe is on top, then we know it must be so. By process of elimination we know that the middle acrobat is Herman. This fits into the premise of the problem, as Herman sometimes tells the truth and, in this case, he did.
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