The puzzle
Chetan, Rohan, Bhavna, Nikhil, Esha, Divya sit in a single row, all facing north. Seat 1 is the far-left end and seat 6 is the far-right end. Using the clues below, work out the order from left to right.
- Nikhil sits immediately to the left of Esha.
- Nikhil sits somewhere to the right of Chetan.
- Divya sits somewhere to the left of Rohan.
- Bhavna sits somewhere to the left of Chetan.
- Rohan sits somewhere to the right of Chetan.
- Exactly 1 person sits between Rohan and Bhavna.
Question: What is the seating order from far-left to far-right?
Reveal the answer
Answer: Divya, Bhavna, Chetan, Rohan, Nikhil, Esha (left to right).
Seat 1DivyaSeat 2BhavnaSeat 3ChetanSeat 4RohanSeat 5NikhilSeat 6Esha
- Start: 720 possible left-to-right orders of 6 people.
- Clue 1 — "Nikhil sits immediately to the left of Esha." leaves 120 possibilities.
- Clue 2 — "Nikhil sits somewhere to the right of Chetan." leaves 60 possibilities.
- Clue 3 — "Divya sits somewhere to the left of Rohan." leaves 30 possibilities.
- Clue 4 — "Bhavna sits somewhere to the left of Chetan." leaves 10 possibilities.
- Clue 5 — "Rohan sits somewhere to the right of Chetan." leaves 7 possibilities.
- Clue 6 — "Exactly 1 person sits between Rohan and Bhavna." leaves 1 possibility.
- Exactly one order survives every clue — that is the answer.