And the winners are...

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We received many responses to the last Mathville puzzle. From all the correct responses, 10 winners were drawn randomly. There are two first places, four second places, and four third places.

The winners of The Advertising Executive puzzle are:

1st place ($30 gift card to the bookstore)

Paula Woods
Miranda Elliott Rader

2nd place ($15 gift card to The Mermaid Cafe)

Robert Porter
Tess Meadows
Brian Quinlan
Ashley London

3rd place (a big Hershey's milk chocolate bar)

Michelle Stanislaus
Veronica Deighan
Sarah Dolan
Matthew Jordan


And now the answer to the puzzle

The question was:  If Joachimsthal's Notations Office is assigned to the seventh slot, then which of the following MUST be assigned to the fifth slot?

The answer is: Keith Numbers, Attorney at Law (choice E) MUST be placed in the 5th slot.

We start by placing Joachimsthal's Notations Office in the 7th slot.  Next we place Fibonacci's and Hypercube in the fourth slot. But Hypercube can't occupy the fourth slot, because if it did, there wouldn't be enough room after it for Bary Center Housewares, Data Structure Computers, and Keith Numbers. That leaves Fibonacci's occupying the fourth slot. This leaves only slots 2 and 3 for Bary Center Housewares and Data Structure Computers, and forces Hypercube Builders into the first slot. Now Keith Numbers must be placed,  but it can't go next to Joachimsthal's (because of the rules), so the only open slot for it is #5. Cantor's Point Realty would then occupy slot #6.