1. Tanya is older than Eric.
2. Cliff is older than Tanya.
3. Eric is older than Cliff.
If the first two statements are true, then the third statement is:
A. True
B. False
C. Uncertain
D. Data insufficient
GATE 2015 · General Aptitude · Statements Follow · medium
Answer: B. False
Establish ordering from the two true statements: Statement 1: Tanya > Eric (T > E). Statement 2: Cliff > Tanya (C > T). By transitivity of 'older than': C > T and T > E => C > E. So the full ordering is: Cliff > Tanya > Eric.
Compare Statement 3 against the derived ordering: From the premises we derived C > E (Cliff is older than Eric). Statement 3 claims E > C (Eric is older than Cliff). Since 'older than' is asymmetric (C > E implies NOT E > C), Statement 3 directly contradicts the derived fact. Therefore Statement 3 is FALSE.
Confirm it is not uncertain or insufficient: There is no ambiguity: the premises uniquely determine C > T > E, which makes E > C impossible. The answer is definitively False, not uncertain or data insufficient.