Question 60

Logical Reasoning Puzzles Hard

A team must be selected from the ten portable players A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J. Of these, A, C, E and J are forwards, B, G and H are point guards and D, F and I are defenders.<br /> The team must have at least one forward, one point guard and one defender.<br /> If the team includes J, it must also include F.<br /> The team must include E or B, but not both.<br /> If the includes G, it must also include F.<br /> The team must include exactly one among C, G and I.<br /> C and F cannot be members of the same team.<br /> D and H cannot be members of the same team.<br /> The team must include both A and D or neither of them.<br /> There is no restriction on the number of members in the team.<br /> Which of the following cannot be included in the team of size 6?

(A) A
(B) H
(C) J
(D) E
View Dynamic Solution & Explanation
Correct Solution: Option B

Step-by-step Solution:

Quick Solution

The question asks which player cannot be included in a valid team of six. The most direct way to solve this is to test the inclusion of the player mentioned in the correct option (H) and show why it's impossible to form a team of 6 with them.


Analyzing the Case for Including Player H

Let's assume we try to build a team of 6 that includes H and see if it's possible by following the rules.

  1. If H is IN...
  2. ...then according to Rule 7 ("D and H cannot be members of the same team"), D must be OUT.
  3. ...then according to Rule 8 ("The team must include both A and D or neither of them"), since D is out, A must also be OUT.

So, simply by including H, we are immediately forced to exclude both A and D.
Team Status: IN = {H, ...}, OUT = {A, D, ...}

Now we must satisfy Rule 5 ("The team must include exactly one among C, G and I"). Let's test the case that gets us the biggest possible team. The best case is to add **G**.

  • Add **G** to the team. (Team is now {H, G}).
  • Rule 4 ("If it includes G, it must also include F") forces us to add **F**. (Team is now {H, G, F}).
  • Now we need to add 3 more players to reach a size of 6. The available players left are {B, E, J}. (C and I are excluded by Rule 5).
  • However, Rule 3 ("The team must include E or B, but not both") means we can only pick **one** from the pair {B, E}.
  • This means we can only add at most two more players (e.g., E and J, or B and J).

The largest possible team we can build including H is {H, G, F, E, J}, which has only 5 members. It is therefore impossible to form a team of size 6.


Final Answer: H cannot be included in the team of size 6.