If Norton is scheduled for the fifth performance, which one of the following could be true?

Victoria June 28, 2019

Hi @beraiahgenesis,

Let's start by going through the game set-up.

We know that seven singers will be scheduled to perform in the finals of a singing competition:

J, K, L, M, N, O, and P

Each singer will perform alone and will give exactly one performance. So, we know that we have seven consecutive performance slots:

1: _ 2: _ 3: _ 4: _ 5: _ 6: _ 7: _

Now, let's go through the conditions.

Condition #1: J performs immediately after K

This means that the order must be KJ and there can be no performers in between the two.

Condition #2: P performs at some time after M

M > P

Condition #3: L performs third only if N performs fifth

Notice the S&N terminology here:

L3 - > N5

N not 5 - > L not 3

Condition #4: If P does not perform second, he performs fifth.

Again, we see S&N terminology here:

P not 2 - > P5

P not 5 - > P2

We can see from conditions #3 and #4 that we can draw another conclusion. If P is not second, he must be fifth. Therefore, if P is not second, N cannot be fifth and, therefore, L cannot be third.

We know nothing about O.

So, the question stem is asking us to select the answer choice which could be true if N is scheduled for the fifth performance.

Answer choice E says: "Olive is scheduled for the first performance"

1: O 2: _ 3: _ 4: _ 5: N 6: _ 7: _

Since N is fifth, P must be second. However, if P cannot be second if O is first because P performs sometime after M.

This means that answer choice E cannot be true and, therefore, is incorrect.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.

makda.mehari August 25, 2020

@ Victoria-- one of the rules messed me up on this game. for Rule/Condition #3, the use of "only if" made me think that Lalitha being 3rd was the NECESSARY condition, because "only if" is usually used to signify that. So I had it set up originally as N5 --> L3... why is this incorrect?

Hope to hear from you promptly!

Victoria September 29, 2020

Hi @makda.mehari,

Happy to help!

Remember that 'only if' introduces the necessary condition. Therefore, the necessary condition is N performing fifth as it is introduced by 'only if.'

The way you have it diagrammed would be correct if the rule read as either: (1) "Only if Lalitha performs third does Norton perform fifth" or (2) "Norton performs fifth only if Lalitha performs third."

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.