Seven sets of triplets — born in the same year — get together at a fancy dress party to celebrate. Each family of triplets dresses the same. After everyone arrives, there are 3 aliens, 3 farmers, 3 surgeons, 3 marine biologists, 3 bushrangers, 3 astronauts and 3 pirates.
Three tables have been arranged with 7 seats around each table. Each family of triplets wants to hear as much gossip as possible about the other families, so they decide that each triplet should sit on a different table. They also decide that a differently dressed person should sit next to each triplet. For example, if one farmer sits next to a pirate on one table, then the other farmers cannot sit next to a pirate on their tables.
The challenge is to follow these rules to arrange the triplets at each table so the party can begin!
This puzzle is just one of the 500 puzzles in the Tenix Questacon Maths Squad— an outreach program which travels around Australia making maths fun for everyone!