by ohthatpatrick Thu May 28, 2015 3:09 pm
We can tell from rules 2, 3, and 4 that this is a Grouping task (all "Friends" and "Enemies" rules).
How many groups?
2
Appetizer and Main Dish.
Do we know how many per group?
No. There are 7 things but no minimum in the setup. Once we get to Rule 1, there is a max for the App group. But there's no minimum. So at THAT point we could have an App / Main split of
0 / 7
1 / 6
2 / 5
3 / 4
But ... once you get Enemy rules with only two groups, you can start putting placeholder minimums in both groups.
Because F and N are enemies, I couldn't ever have
0 / 7
There has to be an F/N in App and an N/F in Main
Similarly, because S and T are enemies, there has to be an S/T in App and a T/S in Main.
So there's a minimum of 2 in App. That means are only quantity possibilities are
App / Main
2 / 5
3 / 4
I would frame those just so I could see them:
(the 2/5 frame)
apps.... | main
F/N S/T | N/F T/S __ __ __
(the 3/4 frame)
apps........ | main
F/N S/T __ | N/F T/S __ __
Wait a sec, in the 2/5 frame, there are no more open spots on the Apps side. So everyone else MUST be in Main course.
(the 2/5 frame)
apps.... | main
F/N S/T | N/F T/S G L P
The only rule left we have to care about is the GN friends. Could they be in either group in either frame?
In the 3/4 frame, they could be on either side. In the 2/5 frame, GN must be on the Main side, so we can indicate that the N/F placeholder is determined.
(the 2/5 frame)
apps | main
F S/T | N T/S G L P
That frame is nicely finished ... all that's flexible is the S/T enemies.
For the 3/4 frame, all we have to worry about is "Which side is GN on?" If you wanted to, you could go ahead and break the 3/4 frame into two and basically be done. Otherwise, you could just go to the questions, knowing the only thing you have to look for / think about is which side is GN on.
Final 3 frames (if you chose to go there)
(the 2/5 frame)
apps | main
F S/T | N T/S G L P
(the 3/4 frame with GN in apps)
apps..... | main
G N S/T | T/S F L P
(the 3/4 frame with GN in main)
apps...... | main
F S/T L/P | G N T/S P/L
You could definitely set these two groups up as vertical columns; I prefer horizontal, but more importantly it's easier to type horizontally in this typing environment than to get vertical spacing correct.
Let me know if you have any questions.