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Who is tallest?

From shuffled comparisons — Ana is taller than Ben, Cleo is shorter than Ana — build the line in your head and say who stands where.

  • Logic
  • Timed
  • 15 levels

How it plays

You get comparisons between pairs of people, out of order. Build the whole line in your head, then answer: who is the tallest, who is third, is Dev older than Eli?

Levels add people, then mix the wording — "shorter than", "not as tall as" — then ask about ranks in the middle and about pairs far apart, and finally add extra comparisons that are true but not needed.

Only what is written counts; nobody is the same height as anyone else.

Keys

Space starts and skips ahead · 1–9 pick · Enter submits · Esc stops. On a phone, tap.

What it trains

This practises transitive inference — building an order from pieces and holding it. It is practice at this, not a claim about reasoning elsewhere.

Learn

How to get better at who is tallest?: the method, the techniques, what each new level asks of you, and the traps the wrong answers are made of.

Your approach to each question

  1. Read the question first. If it asks about one pair, you may only need the part of the line that joins them.
  2. Turn each sentence round so it reads in the “more” direction: “Ben is shorter than Ana” becomes Ana > Ben.
  3. Build one line, most at the left, least at the right. Join each fact onto a name you have already placed.
  4. When the line is whole, count to the place asked for, from whichever end is nearer.

Techniques and tricks

  • One direction only

    Convert every sentence to “X is more than Y” as you read it. “Shorter”, “younger”, “slower” and “lighter” flip the two names; “not as … as” flips them too.

    e.g. “Cleo is not as tall as Ben” is Ben > Cleo.

  • Chain from a shared name

    Start with any fact, then look for one that shares a name with an end of your chain and add to that end. Keep a second chain beside it if a fact shares nothing yet, and join the two when a link turns up.

    e.g. Ben < Ana, Cleo < Ben, Dev > Ana: Ana > Ben, then Ana > Ben > Cleo, then Dev > Ana > Ben > Cleo.

  • The top is never beaten

    The person who is never on the lower side of any fact is the most; the one never on the higher side is the least. For “Who is the tallest?” you can scan for that without building the rest.

  • Count from the near end

    In a line of n, the k-th from the top is the (n − k + 1)-th from the bottom. Pick the end that is closer, so you count fewer names.

    e.g. Of 7 people, the sixth tallest is the second shortest.

  • Say the line as a rhyme

    Once the chain is built, say it once under your breath — “Dev, Ana, Ben, Cleo”. A spoken sequence is easier to hold than a picture while you read the question.

  • A skipping fact is a check

    Some facts compare people who are not next to each other. If both names are already in your chain, the fact should agree with it and adds nothing; do not let it pull anyone closer.

As the levels climb

  • Each level changes one thing, in turn: a person is added, the wording mixes, the question widens, extra facts arrive, the clock closes — then round again. People keep coming, from 3 up to “Most people”; above six, use the chain-joining habit rather than trying to see the whole line at once.
  • The wording mixes in: first “shorter than” beside “taller than”, then “not as tall as”. Flip each sentence the moment you read it; do not leave any in mixed form.
  • The questions widen: first who is most or least, then who is second or fifth, then “Is Gus older than Eli?” about any pair. For a pair, find both in your line and compare positions.
  • Extra facts arrive — true comparisons between people further apart. They can be read first and look like neighbours; place people only by facts that leave no one between.
  • The clock closes, in steps, to 80%, 65% and then 55% of the starting time, which is 7 seconds plus 4.5 for each person. By then, scan for the top or bottom directly when the question allows it.

Traps to avoid

  • The neighbour: the wrong options are mostly the people one or two places from the answer. A miss here often means two adjacent people were swapped — re-check the one fact that joins them.
  • The mirror: asked for the tallest, the shortest is offered too. That comes from reading a flipped sentence the wrong way round; convert “not as … as” and “shorter” before placing anyone.
  • Treating a skipping fact as adjacency: “Ana is taller than Fay” does not put Fay right after Ana. Wait for the fact that does.
  • Counting from the wrong end: “second youngest” counts from the bottom. Say the word aloud — youngest, shortest, slowest, lightest are all the bottom of the line.

How to practise

  • Set “Most people” to 5 or 6 until you can build the line without rereading, then raise it a step at a time towards 12.
  • Raise “Options shown” towards 8: more of the line appears among the options, so a rough idea of where someone stands stops being enough.
  • If the clock makes you guess, set “Time pressure” to “Relaxed — 1.5× time” until the chain-building is quick, then back to Normal.

Levels

Each question has a clock that comes from the work it asks for. There are 15 levels with the default settings, and the counter stops at the real top. Your level is judged on your last ten answers, every ten: 90% moves you up, below 80% moves you down, which holds most people near four in five right.

All of it is in the settings beside Start — how many answers a judgement looks at and how often it recalibrates, the thresholds, the time, which questions, how many options, and whether you see each verdict at once or review them together at the judgement. You can also jump to any level.

More logic

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