Which floor does this company occupy?

Question

There is a seven-story skyscraper. Each floor hosts exactly one company.

Pangloss Washers Co, Ltd. is located on the 7th floor.
Alice PC Chips Co., Ltd. is located on the 6th floor.
Jumanji Arcade Co., Ltd. is located on the 5th floor.

Colorful Crafts Co., Ltd. is located on the ___th floor. Can you fill in the blank?

(Credit: this puzzle idea appears in Umineko.)

It could be the 8th floor. There's no decree that buildings must have consecutively numbered floors. Or perhaps the basement is floor 1. — FreeAsInBeer, Dec 18 '14 at 14:10

score 45 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 17 '14 at 23:43

45

The answer has to be

4 (the 4th floor). It can't be on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd floor since those don't end in "th" and you have "___th" in your question.

answered Dec 17 '14 at 23:43

pacoverflow

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If this is the right answer, I don't like the question! :-( Should be tagged lateral-thinking if so. – Rand al'Thor Dec 17 '14 at 23:50
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This is the right answer. rand al'thor, must be a matter of taste. This is my favorite non-math riddle ever. I've added the lateral-thinking tag as requested. – Lopsy Dec 18 '14 at 00:14
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That's really deceptively simple – JamesENL Dec 18 '14 at 02:19
@randal'thor: the use of "pattern" in the title is also misleading. – Hao Ye Dec 18 '14 at 05:19
It could be tagged lateral-thinking, but then that tag should be hidden in a spoiler tag. – Florian F Jan 14 '15 at 15:34

score 12 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 14 '15 at 17:37

I have an alternate solution:

The question is sourced from Umineko, a Japanese video game/visual novel series, so it is reasonable to conclude that the building in question is in Japan. Japanese superstition associates the number 4 with death, so many Japanese buildings do not have a 4th floor (numbered).

The reasoning of the "correct" answer then puts Colorful Crafts Co., Ltd. on the 8th floor.

adarshadarsh · Answer 3 · 2015-01-14T15:07:44.723

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If you disregard the "th" here is an alternative solution

formula for floor number: Add the digits of the first letters of the company and subtract 8 if it is more than 7.

Pangloss Washers Co P = 16, W = 23, C = 3. Sum = 15, 15-8 = 7.

Alice PC Chips Co A = 1, p = 16, C = 3. Sum = 14, 14-8 = 6.

Jumanji Arcade Co J = 10, A = 1, C = 3. Sum = 5

Colorful Crafts Co C = 3. Sum = 9. 9 - 8 = 1 therefore 1st floor.

edited Jan 14 '15 at 15:07

answered Jan 14 '15 at 15:01

adarshadarsh

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Which floor does this company occupy?

3 Answers3