Twelve cards lie in a row. The cards are of three kinds: with both sides white, both sides black, or with a white and a black side. Initially, nine of the twelve cards have a black side up. The cards 1-6 are turned, and subsequently four of the twelve cards have a black side up. Now cards 4-9 are turned, and six cards have a black side up. Finally, the cards 1-3 and 10-12 are turned, after which five cards have a black side up. How many cards of each kind are there?
Solution
Answer: there are 9 cards with one black and one white side and 3 cards with both sides white.
Divide the cards into four types according to the table below.
| Type | Initially up | Initially down |
|---|---|---|
| black | white | |
| white | black | |
| white | white | |
| black | black |
When the cards 1-6 were turned, the number of cards with a black side up decreased by 5. Hence among the cards 1-6 there are five of type and one of type or . The result of all three moves is that cards have been turned over, hence among these cards there must be four of type , and the combination of the other two must be one of the following:
(a) one of type and one of type ;
(b) one of type and one of type ;
(c) both of type ;
(d) both of type .
Hence the unknown card among the cards 1-6 cannot be of type , since this would make too many cards having a black side up initially. For the same reason, the alternatives (a), (b) and (d) are impossible. Hence there were nine cards of type and three cards of type .
Alternative solution. Denote by the sides of each card that are initially visible, and by the initially invisible sides each of these is either white or black. The conditions of the problem imply the following:
(a) there are 9 black and 3 white sides among ,
(b) there are 4 black and 8 white sides among , ;
(c) there are 6 black and 6 white sides among , ;
(d) there are 5 black and 7 white sides among , .
Cases (b) and (d) together enumerate each of the sides and exactly once - hence there are 9 black and 15 white sides altogether. Therefore, all existing black sides are enumerated in (a), implying that we have 9 cards with one black and one white side, and the remaining 3 cards have both sides white.