Solution to: Little Lies

We know that Richard tells the truth on only a single day of the week. If the statement on day 1 is untrue, this means that he tells the truth on Monday or Tuesday. If the statement on day 3 is untrue, this means that he tells the truth on Wednesday or Friday. Since Richard tells the truth on only one day, these statements cannot both be untrue. Therefore, exactly one of these statements must be true, and the statement on day 2 must be untrue.

Assume that the statement on day 1 is true. Then the statement on day 3 must be untrue, from which follows that Richard tells the truth on Wednesday or Friday. Consequently, day 1 is a Wednesday or a Friday. Therefore, day 2 is a Thursday or a Saturday. However, this would imply that the statement on day 2 is true, which is impossible. From this, we can conclude that the statement on day 1 must be untrue.

This means that Richard told the truth on day 3 and that this day is a Monday or a Tuesday. Therefore, day 2 is a Sunday or a Monday. Because the statement on day 2 must be untrue, we can conclude that day 2 is a Monday.

Consequently, day 3 is a Tuesday. Therefore, the day on which Richard tells the truth is Tuesday.

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