The Thanksgiving Pageant

Allison, Jerry, Bonnie, and Bill are participating in a Thanksgiving Pageant at their school. 

The students will portray an Indian warrior, a pilgrim, an Indian maiden, and a deer. Their props consist of a pumpkin, a fish, a basket of corn, and colored leaves. During the pageant, they will recite a poem, sing a song, do a dance, and act as the narrator. Their parents, whose lasts names are Lee, Newton, Myers, and Schuler, will be watching in the audience. The ages of the performers are 13, 12, 11, and 10 years old. 

Use the clues to help you find out who will be doing what for the pageant.

1. Mrs. Lee made her daughter's costume and also the costumes of the Indian maiden and the dancer. 

2. Mr. Myers helped his son rehearse his poem. 

3. The dancer was older than Lee and the pilgrim, but younger than Allison. 

4. The 11-year-old ripped her deer outfit, but her mother pinned it.

5. Newton carried his fish during his tribal dance.

6. Jerry's pumpkin was a symbol of the feast for the pilgrims. 

7. The Indian maiden carried corn as she sang the song of feasting.

Simplified Solution Here! 

Little Performers at The Thanksgiving Pageant

What was the puzzle?

Given Data : 

STUDENTS     : Allison, Jerry, Bonnie, Bill

CHARACTERS : Indian warrior, Pilgrim, Indian maiden, Deer

PROPS           : Pumpkin, Fish, Basket of corn, Colored leaves

ACT                : Poem, Song, Dance, Narrator

LAST NAMES  : Lee, Newton, Myers, Schuler

AGE                : 13, 12, 11, 10

Given Clues : 

1. Mrs. Lee made her daughter's costume and also the costumes of the Indian maiden and the dancer. 

2. Mr. Myers helped his son rehearse his poem. 

3. The dancer was older than Lee and the pilgrim, but younger than Allison. 

4. The 11-year-old ripped her deer outfit, but her mother pinned it.

5. Newton carried his fish during his tribal dance.

6. Jerry's pumpkin was a symbol of the feast for the pilgrims. 

7. The Indian maiden carried corn as she sang the song of feasting.

STEPS :

First of all let's make a table like below & fill it as per clues.

1]  As per clue (1), student having last name Lee, an Indian maiden and dancer are three different students.

2] As per (3), the dancer must be 12 years old with Lee and Pilgrim having age 10 & 11 but order yet to be known. With that Allison must be 13 years old. This clue also suggests that the dancer or Lee isn't pilgrim.

3] The clue (5) clearly suggest that Newton is dancer carrying fish as a property. Also, clue (6) suggests Jerry is pilgrim having pumpkin. And clue (7) suggests that, Indian Maiden sung a song while carrying a basket of corn.

4] With that, we can conclude that Lee must be carrying colored leaves. Also, the clue (4) must be pointing at Lee now. So Lee is 11 years old wearing deer outfit.

5] It's clear now that Newton is Indian Warrior. And, 10 years old (STEP 2) Jerry is Myers who father helped him to rehearse his poem as per clue (2).

6] Since Allison is 13 years old, she must be Indian Maiden carrying a basket of corn while singing a song. She must have last name Schuler - the only last name left. Since (1) suggests Lee is girl, her name must be Bonnie who is narrator carrying a colored leaves. Finally, first name of Newton must be Bill.

7] So, the final table looks as - 

Arrange Positions Around The Round-Table

King Arthur and his eleven honorable knights must sit on a round-table. In how many ways can you arrange the group, if no honorable knight can sit between two older honorable knights?

Here are the possible combinations!

Source 

Possible Positions Around The Round Table

What was the challenge?

If king K is sitting at the center then the youngest knight must sit to right or left of the king i.e. 2 possible positions for him.

The second youngest knight now can sit either left or right of the group of 2 made above.

The third youngest knight now can sit either left or right of the group of 3 made above.

And so on.

That is every knight has 2 possible positions except the oldest knight who will have only 1 position left.

This will be make sure each of the knight (except youngest one) has at least 1 younger neighbor (youngest one has king as one neighbor).

So after putting youngest in 2 possible ways the next youngest can be put another 2 possible ways. That is 4 possible combinations for 2.

Similarly, for arranging 3 knights' positions there can be 2^3 = 8 possible combinations.

This way for 10 knights (excluding the oldest which will have only 1 seat available at the end) there are 2^10 = 1024 possible combinations.