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Binary Logic Reasoning Tricks (Truth Teller, Liar and

Alternator)

In a binary logic problem, we have people who either speak a true statement or a false
statement. These people are divided into three categories:

Truth-teller: This person will always speak the truth. All the statements made by this
person are true.
Liar: This person will always tell a lie. All statements made by this person are false.
Alternator: This person always alternates between the truth and the lie. If first statement
of this person is true, then second will be false, third will be true and so on. Similarly, if
first statement made by this person is false, then second will be true, third will be false
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and so on. There is no particular number of true statements or false statements made by
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this person but order is always TRUE-FALSE-TRUE- or FALSE-TRUE-FALSE.

Type of questions asked :

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Binary logic problem, as told earlier, will contain people who speak binary statements. The very
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general trend is that each of them will make 3 statements. The number of people varies from 3
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to 5. Generally, only 3 person problem is asked in MBA Exams.

Things to keep in mind

Some statements can be used to identify people without any assumption. Here is a list of 4
statements which one must always look out for to solve the question in an easy way. If any one
of these is made by any person, then we can categorize them as explained below.

I am a liar:

Suppose, a truth-teller says, “I am a liar”, which is a lie as a truth-teller can only say, “I am a
truth-teller”. Hence, we can say that the person who said “I am a liar” is not the truth-teller.

On the same basis, if a liar says that he/she is a liar then that statement is true but the liar will
everytime speak the lie. As none of the statement made by him is true, we can say this
statement cannot be made by a liar.

Only an alternator can speak this statement. He can alternate between the truth and the lie.
Since, he/she is not a liar but he/she can still make a false statement, alternator can make the
statement, “I am a liar”. The statement in itself is a lie. This gives us another hint that the
statement preceding and the statement proceeding this statement will always be a true.

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I am not a truth teller:

Same to the explanation above, a truth-teller can never make this statement because if he/she
makes this statement then it will be a lie which contradicts the fact that a truth-teller can only
speak the truth.

It will be the truth for the liar if he makes the above statement which again contradicts the fact
that a liar will always lie. Hence, a liar cannot make this statement.

The alternator can say, “I am not a truth-teller”, as he can say either the truth or the lie. This
statement will be a true statement for him, which tells us that the statements proceeding and
preceding this statement are the lie.

I am an alternator:

This statement can not be made by a truth-teller as this statement will be a lie for him which
conflicts the fact of the truth-teller. A liar can make this statement as this statement will be a lie
for him/her. An alternator can also make this statement and this will be the truth for the
alternator. So this statement can be made by the liar or the alternator.
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I am not an alternator:
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As we saw in the above statement, a liar will not make this statement. A truth-teller or an
alternator can make this statement. For alternator, this time it will be the lie.
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Summary :
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Statement Made by Truth or lie

I am a liar Alternator Lie
I am not a truth-teller Alternator Truth
I am an alternator Liar or alternator Lie for liar, truth for alternator
I am not an alternator Truth-teller or alternator Lie for alternator, truth for truth-
teller

Note - In some cases, where none of the four statements as mentioned above was made by
anyone, we will use the assumption-iteration method (or the case method ). In this method we
will assume the first person as the truth-teller and based on his statements we will try to find
contradictions that may arise due to the statements made by others.

Let us have a look at an example :

Raj, Rahul and Vicky answered the question, “Who among you is a Doctor” in the following
manner:

We know exactly one of these boys is a Doctor, one is a Painter and one is an Athlete. Further,
one always speaks the truth, one always lies and one alternates between the truth and the lie.

Raj: Rahul: Vicky:

I am a Doctor Vicky is an Athlete I am not a Painter
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Rahul is a Painter Raj is not a Doctor Rahul is not a painter

I am an alternator I am a liar Raj is a liar

In our example question, Rahul makes the statement, “I am a liar”, which clearly tells us that
Rahul is the alternator. Also, Raj said that he is an alternator, which means that he can be either
a liar or an alternator. Now, since Rahul is the alternator, Raj is the liar. This leaves us with
Vicky as the truth-teller. Since Rahul is the alternator, so the statements proceeding/preceding
the statement, “I am a liar” are true, we can say that Raj is not a Doctor. Also as Vicky is a truth-
teller, according to his statements, Rahul is not a painter and he himself is not a painter, thus
Raj is the painter. Now, Rahul's first statement is a lie (as the order for Rahul's statements
is 1st-false,2nd-true,3rd-false), this means Vicky is not an athlete, which leaves us with the only
option for Vicky as Doctor and Rahul will then be an athlete.

Summary :

Raj Rahul Vicky

liar alternator Truth-teller
painter athlete Doctor

So the answer to the question, ‘Who is a Doctor’, is Vicky.

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Date: 01-08-2017

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