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jmc

prealgebra junior

Problem

The six children listed below are from two families of three siblings each. Each child has blue or brown eyes and black or blond hair. Children from the same family have at least one of these characteristics in common. Which two children are Jim's siblings?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
Solution
Jim has brown eyes and blonde hair. If you look for anybody who has brown eyes or blonde hair, you find that Nadeen, Austin, and Sue are Jim's possible siblings. However, the children have at least one common characteristics. Since Austin and Sue both have blonde hair, Nadeen is ruled out and therefore are his siblings. You can also see that in the hair color column, there are three black haired people and three blond haired people. Since Jim has blond hair, all his siblings must be the other two with blond hair.
Final answer
E