Deduction Puzzle

     Purpose:

          The purpose of this program is to build puzzles that require
          deductive reasoning to solve and therefore teach and provide
          practice in deductive reasoning. Within this context you are
          given a series of five persons, pets and addresses. Then asked
          who has a certain pet and where they live. The solution to this
          question is made possible through a process of deductive
          reasoning using a series of clues that are also provided.

     Uses:

          This is basically a program to produce deductive reasoning
          problems so that the user can learn and practice the methods of
          deductive reasoning. However, solving such problems can also
          produce a good deal of enjoyment. To this end the problem may be
          included in a newsletter or some other type of publication.

     Operation:

          The development of the elements of the problem does not require
          any input from the user, however they are displayed on the screen
          so that the user may make a decision whether to print a copy of
          the problem. There are no command line options so the program is
          started by entering it's name DEDUCTR. Given below is a
          description of the information displayed and the printing options
          available.

          Question:

               The question that is to be answered from the choices and
               clues given can be found about three quarters of the way
               down the screen.

          Answer:

               The answer to the question is given two lines below the
               question. However, on the printed output this answer is
               coded. The code is simple with each letter in the alphabet
               being represented by its numeric position (e.g. A=1, Z=26).
               The space is represented by 27 and a period is a 46. In this
               way after solving the puzzle one can have fun decoding the
               answer.

          Choices:

               Almost immediately after the question and answer are
               displayed, the choices of persons, pets, and addresses are
               displayed in the main part of the screen.
















          Clues:

               After the choices have been displayed for about a dozen
               seconds they are replaced by the list of clues.

          Print Puzzle:

               With the clues still displayed at the top of the screen,
               near the bottom of the screen you are asked if you want to
               print a copy of this puzzle. If you answer (Y)es then a copy
               is printed on the attached printer. A (N)o answer ends the
               program. As no printer control or special characters are
               used printing should work with almost all printers.


          Print Grids:

               Since it is often easier to solve this type of puzzle if one
               records information in a series of grids of Persons vs. Pet,
               Persons vs. Addresses, and Pets vs. Addresses you are asked
               at this point if you want grids printed. A (Y)es answer will
               result in these three grids being printed on a separate
               sheet of paper. A (N)o answer will result in no grids and
               the end of the program.




                              This is a shareware product of

                                     Acinom Software
                                     7301 Lanham Lane
                                 Edina, Minnesota  55403