A Very Brady Problem

Patrick Vitarius

``A Very Brady Problem" is either ridiculously easy or impossibly difficult, depending on the mindset of the student. It involves, of course, the Brady Bunch, that lovable group of nine. The children are named for their position in the blocks at the start of the show (i.e., the boys are n1, n4, and n7, the girls are n3, n6, and n9). Also, `a' is Alice, `b' is Brady, and `c' is the mother.

Before you start the problem, there are a few things you will want to do. First, open up ``A Very Brady Intro". This is a Hyperproof problem, but if you move through it using the down arrow key, it becomes an entertaining, animated introduction to the Brady Bunch. (Before viewing the intro, as well as the problem itself, you should first turn on Likes & Happy (for where would the Bradys be if they weren't likable and happy?) and then select ``Edit Colors" from the ``Situation" menu to pick out some groovy colors for your Bunch.

Notice a few things:

• All of the hepcats are Tets.
• All of the gals are Dodecs (Alice is a cube.)
• All adults are large, except Alice, who is medium.
• Each adult has two small children and one medium child.
• Marsha is sad.

After you are done with this, you are ready to begin the ``episode". In this episode, you are given various sentential facts about the positions of the children. You must determine whether or not all of these facts are true; if they are, then you should finish the episode by Assuming a case in which they are. These are the facts you are given:

1. One of the boys is talking to Mr. Brady, which means that they adjoin each other.
2. Two of the boys are playing in the front yard, which means that one of them is front of Mr. Brady, and they adjoin each other.
3. Two girls-or possibly a girl and her mother-are talking upstairs, which is a location specified in relation to a and b.
4. One girl-or maybe mom- is talking to Alice.
5. One girl-or maybe mom-is sulking downstairs, which a location specified in relation to a.
6. THE ONLY TIME A HAPPY PERSON ADJOINS SOMEONE IS WHEN THEY ARE HAPPY AS WELL. (Make this your philosophy, as well.)
7. Everyone likes everyone else in their row, at least all those of the opposite sex.

• About this document ...