KING ARTHUR'S KNIGHTS.
(
Combination and Group Problems)
King Arthur sat at the Round Table on three successive evenings with his
knights--Beleobus, Caradoc, Driam, Eric, Floll, and Galahad--but on no
occasion did any person have as his neighbour one who had before sat
next to him. On the first evening they sat in alphabetical order round
the table. But afterwards King Arthur arranged the two next sittings so
that he might have Beleobus as near to him as possible and Galahad as
far away from him as could be managed. How did he seat the knights to
the best advantage, remembering that rule that no knight may have the
same neighbour twice?
Answer:
On the second evening King Arthur arranged the knights and himself in
the following order round the table: A, F, B, D, G, E, C. On the third
evening they sat thus, A, E, B, G, C, F, D. He thus had B next but one
to him on both occasions (the nearest possible), and G was the third
from him at both sittings (the furthest position possible). No other way
of sitting the knights would have been so satisfactory.
