Which one of the following could be an accurate matching of reports to their segments, with the reports listed in ord...

Irina on October 22, 2019

@jflem,

This a hybrid game that requires us to match the reports to the segments and determining the proper order. Each morning the radio station airs five reports - two of general interest: -I & N
and three of local - S T W.

The following rules apply:

(1) There are exactly two segments, the first containing three reports and the second containing two.

1: __ __ __
2: __ __

(2) Reports are ordered by length within each segment.

Note that the order by length is only required within each segment, so it is possible for the first report of segment 2 to be longer than the first report of segment 1 for example. Hence we cannot infer that N is always #1 in the first segment and S is always #2 in the second segment. The length is only relevant WITHIN each segment. In other words, it is true that N must be the first report of one of the segments but it does not have to be the first segment, and likewise, S has to be the last report of one of the segments, but it could be either one.

(3) Each segment contains at least 1 report of local interest.

1: __ __ __ 1L+
2: __ __ 1L+

This rule tells us that one of the segments must include 1 local report and the other must include 2 local reports. We can also infer that I &N could only be together in the first segment, the second segment could contain at most 1 report of general interest. We could have the following two possible combinations of local/ general interest reports:

1: __ __ __ 1L+
2: __ __ 1L+ >=1G

1. G L L
2. G L

1. G G L
2. L L


(4) The national report is always the longest of the five reports.

This rule tells us that whichever segment the national report is in, it is going to be #1.

(5) The sports report is always the shortest of the five segments.

This rule tells us that the sports report will always be last in whichever segment it is in.

(6) The international report is always longer than the weather report.

I > W

The interesting inference from that rule is that if I & W are the only two reports in the second segment, we can determine the exact order of all the reports:

1: N T S
2: I W

Combining the rules together, we can infer the following order N > I > W > S within each segment.
We have no information regarding S & T, so they could be anywhere in between N & S.

Let's look at the answer choices:

(A) Incorrect. N is always > I within the same segment.
(B). Correct, this complies with all the rules.
(C) Incorrect. S is the shorter and must always be last in either segment.
(D) Incorrect. I >W
(E) Incorrect. We must have at least one local report in each segment.

Let me know if this makes sense and if you have any further questions.

Angelica on April 21, 2022

I love your explanation. Btw, for the last rule " The international report is always longer than the weather report." Does that mean If International report and the weather report are placed within the same segment together International always is placed before the Weather report?

because when I read this rule I'm interpreting it that International will always be placed longest in each segment meaning National would always come before International and Sports always comes before the Weather for all segments. This game is rare and I will have to practice this one multiple times. Just so I have a firm understanding of these type of games.

Emil on April 26, 2022

Hi Angel92,

The final rule does mean exactly what you said! As to the latter point, I think the two segments are separated. We know that N will always be the first in its segment, and the S will always be last in its segment, and that if I and W are in the same segment, then I will be before W. However, we know nothing about which goes in which of the two segments, and the ideas about length do not carry over. That is, if I is in segment 1 and W is in segment 2, the IW rules doesn't tell us anything about their placements.