Q5

[masadatech]

Totally stuck here.

I got:

QJN
xKR x=S

or

QJS
xKR x = s

if I move J
K

to a new spot (Friday)

QSJ
xRK

I would still get R for T (Thursday)

Really stuck. Please help

[christine.defenbaugh]

Thanks for posting, masadatech!

It looks to me like you might have gotten a bit confused about a few of the rules. Did you forget about the rule that Q had to be before both K and N? Also, the correct answer here is that S cannot be on Thursday - your post makes it sound like you might think it's R.

Let's start at the top. First, let's lay out the diagram and rules:



Now, question 5 tells us that Q is in the morning. We know this cannot be Friday morning, since Q must come before both N and K. This leave Wednesday and Thursday morning. However, if we try to place Q onto Thursday morning:

J will be very cross - he's supposed to hang with either K or Q, and this lineup won't allow either! So, this pathway is a dead end.

That means that Q MUST go on Wednesday morning. And since Q is in the morning, J can't be paired up with him. That means J has to pair up with K. We can add that to our original relative tree rule:


Now we know that we have three separate groups: the Q group (and someone), the N group (and someone), and the JK group. We only have R and S left to place. R can't pair up with Q (it can only go with N or S), so it's forced to pair up with N.


The only element left to place is S! And the only group that still needs a player is Q's group. Thus, S *must* pair with Q, and we already know that Q is on Wednesday.


S can never appear on Thursday, because it is locked into the Wednesday afternoon slot! (E) is the answer! We don't know what order the JK and NR blocks come in, so any of those elements could be on Thursday (or Friday).

We might also have taken a slightly different path once we realized that Q had to be on Wednesday morning. Let's take a look at all the people who are NOT allowed to be on Wednesday afternoon:

N and K can't be there, since they must come after Q. J can't be there, as he must be in the morning. And R can't be there, since R is only allowed to pair up with N or S. That eliminates everyone except S! Since no one else is allowed to go on Wednesday afternoon, S is forced to take the spot!

Please let me know if this helps clear up your question completely!

[AnnaT620]

Thanks so much for the above, super helpful. Apologies, I think I am still not clear on something here (but unfortunately can't figure out what).

The two diagrams I had for this were:

W: Q , N/S
Th: K , J
F: N/S , R

W: Q , N/S
Th: N/S , R
F: K , J

I am not seeing why N can't go on Thursday based on the rules - as long as you have either RS or RN together? To me this appears in line with each of the rules...

In terms of process - would you recommend Framing this game? Is there a different method to use here, or would this just be to plug and chug?

Thanks so much!

Anna

[Laura Damone]

Hi there!

Please forgive the long delay here. This was posted during a very busy week on the forum, and because you posted multiple times that week, we were able to answer some posts but not all.

The issue with your diagrams is that they both have Q on Wed with either N or S. But rule 3 states that Q must be on an earlier day than N. Thus, S must be on Wed with Q, and cannot go Thursday, making E the correct answer.

Hope this helps!