FRANK’S PUZZLE

Submitted by: Paul Allan, Palmer High School, Palmer, Alaska  Date: 1994

Source: http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/Mathematics/Process_Skills/MPS0005.html

PURPOSE:

To enhance student problem solving strategies and increase student ability to solve deductive reasoning problems. To bring a sense of fun and accomplishment to math and science class problem solving.

Procedure:

1.) Work in groups of 3 to solve Frank’s Puzzle.

2.) You are trying to determine the following about each person:

            Where they are from, what language they speak, and type of pet they have

Frank's Puzzle:

Don, Frank, Jenny, and Ken each come from one state, either Alaska, Maine, Montana, or Oklahoma. They each speak one primary language, either English, French, Russian, or Spanish. And they each have one of four pets: a chinchilla, a dog, a hamster, or a turtle.

1. Frank needed a language book to write to the Alaskan.
2. The kid from Oklahoma has a mammal for her pet.
3. The Alaskan found his pet outside his door in a snow bank.
4. The French speaking boy lives east of Oklahoma.
5. The Russian speaking boy wants to write to the kid from Montana, but he doesn't speak his language.
6. Don bought his pet in Peru.
7. Ken does not own a hamster.
8. The dog's owner wrote a letter in Russian to the kid in Oklahoma, but she couldn't understand it.
9. Don had to travel west to meet Jenny.
10. Frank is learning Spanish at school.