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Guess the Number


Sage had a 1, Rosemary had an 11, and Tim had a 2.

From Sage's statement, he had to have an odd number. He knew that the sum of all three numbers was even, so if his number was odd, one of the other two numbers would have to be odd, and the other even, leaving them unequal.

Rosemary could deduce this, too, so when she saw an 11, she knew that Sage had a 1 and Tim had a 2. If she had seen a 12, she would have known that the other two boys each had a 1, which is contradicted by her saying that she already knew they all had different numbers. If she saw any number other than an 11 (say 9, for example), she would not have know which odd number Sage held. (In our example, he could have had a 1 and Tim a 4, or he could have had a 3 and Tim a 2).

Tim, understanding all of this, therefore knew their numbers.

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