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SBI PO type high level reasoning puzzle solved in a few confident steps 2

Represent logic table in its minimal form and Strategically select logic conditions for quick solution

SBI PO type high level reasoning puzzle solved in a few confident steps 2

This is the second session on solving a SBI PO type high level reasoning puzzle in a few easy and confident steps without confusion. Collapsing logic table columns as well as rows to its minimal form and more importantly, strategic selection of logic conditions for execution are the two main concepts to use for efficient quick solution without confusion. For detailed concepts on the fundamental technique and strategies in solving this type of logic puzzles you should refer to our tutorial sessions,

How to solve SBI PO level logic puzzles in a few simple steps 1

How to solve SBI PO level logic puzzles in a few simple steps 2

How to solve SBI PO level family relation problems in a few simple steps 3

How to solve SBI PO level floor stay Reasoning Puzzle in a few confident steps 4

How to solve high level circular seating reasoning puzzles for SBI PO in confident steps 5

How to solve high level hard two row seating reasoning puzzles for SBI PO in confident steps 6

In this session we will collapse the columns as well as rows to represent the four object set logic assignment table in its minimal form. Using this minimal form of logic table we will analyze and strategically select of the logic conditions in such a way that the apparently complex reasoning puzzle is solved in a few quick steps without any confusion at all.

Note: Before going through the solution of the problem, try to solve the problem in a suitably timed exercise session.


SBI PO type high level Reasoning Puzzle : Who is married to whom in which city and what was the gift?

Problem description

Six friends Vinay, Vimal, Rupchand, Samir, Vijay and Tejinder married in different cities, Kolkata, Patna, Jabalpur, Mumbai, Delhi and Chandigarh and all the grooms gifted mobile phones of different brands to their respective brides: Apple, LG, Samsung, Motorola, Xiaomi and HTC, but not necessarily in the same order. The brides' names were: Minti, Sonali, Uma, Sunita, Meenakshi and Gauri, once again not following any order. The following are some facts about their weddings.

Conditional statements

  1. Rupchand gifted his wife Samsung on their wedding; however he was not married to Minti or Gauri.
  2. Vinay gifted his wife Apple and Vijay gifted Motorola to his wife. However neither of them was married to Sonali or Sunita.
  3. The bride who was gifted HTC got married in Kolkata.
  4. Uma's wedding took place in Patna, but she was not gifted Apple.
  5. Minti and Meenakshi got married in Kolkata and Delhi and own Samsung and HTC but not necessarily following the above mentioned order.
  6. Samir did not gift LG or HTC to his wife and was married in Chandigarh.
  7. Tejinder was married to Sonali in Mumbai.

Questions

Question 1. Whom did Vinay and Vijay marry respectively?

  1. Minti, Gauri
  2. Sunita, Minti
  3. Gauri, Uma
  4. Uma, Minti
  5. Sonali, Sunita

Question 2. Which groom married in Kolkata?

  1. Vinay
  2. Rupchand
  3. Samir
  4. Vijay
  5. Vimal

Question 3. Who was gifted HTC?

  1. Rupchand
  2. Minti
  3. Sunita
  4. Uma
  5. Sonali

Question 4. Who gifted Apple?

  1. Vinay
  2. Samir
  3. Tejinder
  4. Samir
  5. Vijay

Question 5. Who gifted Xiaomi?

  1. Samir
  2. Tejinder
  3. Rupchand
  4. Vijay
  5. Vinay

Note: Try to solve the problem yourself before going through the solution.

Solution to the SBI PO type high level reasoning puzzle : Problem analysis and representation

Because of four object sets, members of which are to be assigned to each other on one to one basis, the problem seems to be a bit difficult.

Let us look at the representation first.

Logic table Representation

Each of the four sets has six members. So for assigning the members to each other on a unique one to one basis, there will be possible combinations numbering as large as $6^4=1296$. It will be extremely inconvenient to use a logic table with such a large number of possible logic states (if at all we can represent such an awkward form of logic table), for any practical problem solving.

From our experience in collapsing columns (and rows) of logic table to the only one finally assigned column (or row), we decide to use the complete column as well as row collapsed minimal form of logic table as below.

We use the four lists at the top of the table (three row lists could also have been used) to keep track of assignments already made and which member is yet to be assigned. By striking off the already assigned member of a list we keep track of the members yet to be assigned.

SBI PO level difficult reasoning puzzle solved in a few confident steps 2-1

We have selected six columns one each for one groom and three rows for Brides, Cities of marriage and Mobile brands gifted. There are no superfluous cells in this minimal logic table. It will hold only the final assignments. If at all we need to record any uncertain assignments, we will record the condition in its raw form, but only if it can be recorded against a column, that is against a particular groom.

Essentially the whole challenge of solving the problem quickly without confusion is shifted to the strategic selection of efficient sequence of condition statements for execution. This approach should not only lead to the quickest solution, but also will test the core skill of logic analysis of the problem solver.

Let us now solve the problem by analyzing and processing the logic statements. As usual our objective will be to make full assignment and fill up the Final columns exhaustively.

Solution Step 1

Strategy 1: Identifying direct assignment to a column member with maximum number of certain assignments

We will first execute only those conditional statements that directly assign any of the row members to a column header member and have most number of such assignments.

If there are more than one such statement, the single statement with maximum number of certain direct assignment to a column header value will be chosen first.

In this problem we find, out of four direct column assignment statements only the Statement 7: "Tejinder was married to Sonali in Mumbai." has two certain assignments to a single column header member. This has the maximum certain assignments.

Without such a direct assignment further progress would have been difficult. On the other hand, with one direct assignment, a few cells are filled up, and we will select suitable statements next, using these filled up certain assignments. These certain assignments will help further efficient progress immensely.

Note: Try out the possibility of choosing any other direct assignment statement such as Statement 1, 2 and 6 each of which has one direct column assignments.

Strategy 2: Looking for useful reference to the filled up cell values: Link search technique

Now we are in a position to search for any statement that refers to either Sonali or Mumbai, the certain cell values we have found till now.


Note: The reason to search for links to already obtained certain knowledge instead of other direct assignments lie on the basic mechanism of building of rich knowledge by linking isolated pieces of facts or concepts,

A single body of knowledge comprising of a number of interlinked pieces of concepts is essentially more powerful and effective than many pieces of isolated facts or concepts.


Only the compound type Statement 2: "Vinay gifted his wife Apple and Vijay gifted Motorola to his wife. However neither of them was married to Sonali or Sunita." contain the link to the already assigned value Sonali, and so we select it next for execution. As Sonali is already found to be married to Tejinder, only the negative condition "not Sunita" is recorded against the columns corresponding to Vinay and Vijay. Also two mobiles Apple and Motorola could be assigned to them as gifts.

Crossing out the mobile names and names of brides we look for the next statement to execute.

Strategy 3: Objective of finding a direct assignment that increases number of filled up values in a row which is populated most

There may be more than one direct assignment statements. In this problem we have Statement 1 and Statement 6 making direct assignments to a groom column. Which one to choose next for execution?

As Mobile row already have two values in it and City row only one value, we choose Statement 1 instead of Statement 6 at this point.

The reason of this objective of maximizing the filling up potential of a row is,

By this action we will increase our chances of getting direct assignment by later statements by conflict or linking with an existing mobile value.

After systematic execution of these three statements the logic table looks like,

SBI PO level difficult reasoning puzzle solved in a few confident steps 2-2

Solution Step 2

Now with the fairly populated row of mobiles we look for one or more than one statement that results in a direct assignment by conflict with existing mobile values. This is the fourth strategy and for this strategy to work, our earlier objective was to increase the filled up state of the mobile row.

Strategy 4: Looking for one or more than one statement that by conflict with existing row values, results in maximum new information that can be recorded

We find the two statements, the Statement 6. "Samir did not gift LG or HTC to his wife and was married in Chandigarh." and Statement 3. "The bride who was gifted HTC got married in Kolkata." satisfy the strategic conditions at this point.

Together, these two statements first assign "Chandigarh-Xioami" against Samir (as out of three mobile brands left to be assigned, Samir did not gift either LG or HTC), and next "HTC-Kolkata" against Vimal (as Tejinder already has been married in Mumbai, and so cannot accept Kolkata-HTC pair of values). The last mobile brand of LG goes to Tejinder.

Here principle of conflict and principle of exclusion are at work.

This is basic logic analysis.

Check this step yourself.

The logic table now looks like,

SBI PO level difficult reasoning puzzle solved in a few confident steps 2-3

Solution Step 3

At this point, as the logic table is well filled up, by executing the last two statements in suitable sequence the rest of the empty cells could easily be filled up.

By the Statement 5: "Minti and Meenakshi got married in Kolkata and Delhi and own Samsung and HTC but not necessarily following the above mentioned order.", Minti and Meenakshi along with their cities Kolkata and Delhi are locked into two columns having HTC and Samsung. But as Kolkata is already tied up with HTC, Delhi has to be assigned to Samsung and hence Rupchand column.

This is the principle of conflict at work. Unless a row or column is well populated, we may not get useful results out of such conflicts.

Proceeding with the same thread of analysis, we find the bride of Delhi column cannot be Minti or Gauri. So the bride must be Meenakshi, leaving Minti for Kolkata column and hence Vimal. At this point the statement 5 processing potential is completely exhausted.

When processing the last Statement 4: "Uma's wedding took place in Patna, but she was not gifted Apple.", we find only two cities, Patna and Jabalpur are left. As one empty city cell is tied up with Apple, Patna-Uma pair is assigned directly to Vijay column. By principle of exclusion, Jabalpur goes to Vinay.

Even at this very last stage we observe that two brides are left to be assigned with no statements left.

But as it so happens, the brides left are Sunita and Gauri and Vinay cannot accept Sunita (we recorded this negative condition much earlier, now only it is used).

So Gauri goes to Vinay and Sunita to Samir thus completing the assignments. This is again principle of conflict at work.

It is not so difficult, isn't it?

The final logic table state is as below,

SBI PO level difficult reasoning puzzle solved in a few confident steps 2-4

Now we are ready to answer the questions and it should take only about a minute's time to answer the five questions.

Answers to the questions

Question 1. Whom did Vinay and Vijay marry respectively?

Answer 1. Option 3: Gauri, Uma.

Question 2. Which groom married in Kolkata?

Answer 2. Option 5: Vimal.

Question 3. Who was gifted HTC?

Answer 3. Option 2: Minti.

Question 4. Who gifted Apple?

Answer 4. Option 1: Vinay.

Question 5. Who gifted Xiaomi?

Answer 5. Option 1: Samir.

Recommendation

You need to carefully go through these sessions for absorbing the concepts well, and more importantly you must solve a number of such problems of various types for solving such a problem or its variation in the actual test confidently.

End note

Solving reasoning puzzles does not need knowledge on any subject—it is just identifying useful patterns by analysis of the problem and using appropriate methods. It improves problem solving skill, because patterns and methods lie at the heart of any problem solving.


Other resources for learning how to discover useful patterns and solve logic analysis problems

Einstein's puzzle or Einstein's riddle

The puzzle popularly known as Einstein's puzzle or Einstein's riddle is a six object set assignment logic analysis problem. Going through the problem and its efficient solution using collapsed column logic analysis technique in the session Method based solution of Einstein's logic analysis puzzle whose fish should be a good learning experience.

Playing Sudoku

As a powerful method of enhancing useful pattern identification and logic analysis skill, play Sudoku in a controlled manner. But beware, this great learning game, popularly called Rubik's Cube of 21st Century, is addictive.

To learn how to play Sudoku, you may refer to our Sudoku pages starting from the very beginning and proceeding to hard level games.


Reading list on SBI PO and Other Bank PO level Reasoning puzzles

Tutorials

How to solve SBI PO level logic puzzles in a few simple steps 1

How to solve SBI PO level logic puzzles in a few simple steps 2

How to solve SBI PO level family relation problems in a few simple steps 3

How to solve SBI PO level floor stay Reasoning Puzzle in a few confident steps 4

How to solve high level circular seating reasoning puzzles for SBI PO in confident steps 5

How to solve high level hard two row seating reasoning puzzles for SBI PO in confident steps 6

How to solve high level circular seating arrangement reasoning puzzles for SBI PO quickly 7

How to solve high level nine position circular seating easoning puzzles for SBI PO quickly 8

How to solve high level box positioning reasoning puzzle for SBI PO quickly 9

Solved reasoning puzzles SBI PO type

SBI PO type high level floor stay reasoning puzzle solved in a few confident steps 1

SBI PO type high level reasoning puzzle solved in a few confident steps 2

SBI PO type high level reasoning puzzle solved in a few confident steps 3

SBI PO type high level circular seating reasoning puzzle solved in confident steps 4

SBI PO type high level hard reasoning puzzle solved in confident steps 5

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SBI PO type hard two row seating reasoning puzzle solved in confident steps 10

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Solved reasoning puzzles Bank PO type

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