Главная страница «Первого сентября»Главная страница журнала «Английский язык»Содержание №6/2009

A Logical Treasure Hunt

The tresure map below was drawn by Captain Hood Winker, a pirate who loved puzzles as much as plunder. He buried a fortune in gold doubloons within one of the square areas (A through J) marked with an X.

He also wrote these clues on the back of the map:

1. An even number of squares marked X are farther east than the treasure.

2. The treasure is not located at the X that is closest to the abandoned mine.

3. If there are an even number of Xs farther north than the treasure, the treasure is located on one of the four small islands.

4. If the treasure is on one of the four small islands, then the distance from the treasure to the nearest other X is greater than the distance from the pirate hut to the sunken ship.

5. If the treasure is on the big island, then one of the buildings is farther west than the treasure and the other building is farther north than the treasure.

Can you save a lot of digging by figuring out which X marks the treasure’s location?

Key:

The X containing the treasure is the one labeled H.

From clue 1, you can rule out points A and G.

From clue 2, you can eliminate C.

From clue 3, you can eliminate E and I, which have even numbers of Xs to their north but are on the big island.

From clue 4, you can eliminate D and J. The distance from I to J is the same as the distance from the pirate hut to the sunken ship, and the distance from D to E is even less.

You now know that the treasure must be buried at either B, F, or H. Of these, only H has buildings both to its north and its west.

From Kids’ Big Book of Games