So When is Cheryl's birthday? Here is an explanation

So When is Cheryl's birthday? This is the most viral question this week and many could easily think it has no answer after looking at the question. But New york Times got it right by this explanation of logical thinking... and for the record, this question is meant for Singapore primary school kids. 

 

Here is how, Albert knows the day and Benard the month. If Albert was told either 19 or 18 which appeared once, then he knows the exact date and month. But since he was not certain of the date and month by his first statement so we eliminate the months with 19 and 18, leaving only July and August.

Now, if the month is July or August, it cannot be 14 since it appears twices so we eliminate those, leaving behind just three dates.

It cannot also be August since August still has 2 dates left without anymore clue, but July has only 16 left. The date is definitely July 16.

The time taken for you to read this logical elimination method is the time taken for Albert and Bernard to say:

For the fact that Albert who was told the date didn't know, we already have the first part settled from the statement: Albert: I don’t know when your birthday is, but I know Bernard doesn’t know, either.