Which one of the following could be the order in which the buildings are inspected, listed in order from Monday morni...

iameunkyoung@gmail.com February 11, 2020

How to know when to lay out possible scenarios vs just write some rules

I started this game by trying to come up with some scenarios such as: am G __ __ pm J __ __ am G J __ pm __ __ __ . . . then realized there were so many situations only after spending a significant time. Is there any way to know that this would be a waste of time? or by doing lots, lots questions, I should be able to "sense" it? Thanks.

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SamA February 14, 2020

Hello @iameunkyoung@gmail.com,

Great question, this tells me you are on the right track. Your instinct should tell you to create multiple diagrams based on the rules. However, there is an art to knowing when to stop.

My personal rule: If I can create 4 or fewer distinct diagrams, such that every possible answer must conform to one of them, I will write them all down. Very rarely will I do 5 or 6, and that's only if I am confident that it will nearly solve the whole game.

You began on the right track with G, but then you saw that there were a lot of possibilities for G and J. In a way, you did sense that this was going to be a problem. With more experience, your senses will kick in more quickly, before you invest too much time.

Let's keep it simple with G. Where can G go?

am G _ _
pm _ _ _

am _ J/ _
pm G J/ _

am _ G _
pm _ J _

Every possible distribution must have one of these three setups. We already know that G can't be on Wednesday. We can also infer that if G is on Tuesday, it must be Tuesday morning. Otherwise, there would be no room for L.

In diagram 2, I use slashes to indicate the two possibilities for J. That way, I don't have to make a whole other setup. I now have 3 simple diagrams, but they will help me move through the questions much more quickly.

My first thought was to arrange the restaurants on Wednesday, but I realized that this would need a lot of diagrams.

SZ, ZS, SV, VS, VZ, ZV

I don't want to make six of them, especially if it leaves a lot of uncertainty on Monday and Tuesday.

iameunkyoung@gmail.com February 26, 2020

Thank you so much!

BennyB33 May 22, 2022

How is D not an illegal reversal? L is am then Z is am which would be a reversal? Help me understand how this is allowed?

Emil-Kunkin May 24, 2022

Hi BennyB33,

While you are right to say that it would be an illegal reversal to say that "if L is AM then Z is AM" that does not mean that it is impossible for them to both be in the AM. Illegal reversal means that just because L is in the AM, we cannot say if Z is AM or PM. It does not mean that we cannot have both in the AM.