If Tao was recruited second, which one of the following could be true?
on June 9, 2020
Incorrect answer?
Hi! I was wondering why the answer would be D instead of C? How can Villas be 6th if he immediately precedes White? Instead, in this case shouldn't the order for 5-7 be either V-W-S or S-V-W?
Reply
Shunheon June 15, 2020
Hi @hperi,
Thanks for the question! Well, let’s say that T was recruited second. We know that S can’t be 1 or 3 (based on the first rule). So right now, we have
__ T __ P __ __ __
OK, so now we know that VW has to go somewhere, which means it’s going to be in the last three blocks. We can put V in the sixth block, and W in the last block. Then, we can fill in Q—R in slots 1 and 3, and put S in slot 5, getting us
Q T R P S V W
which doesn’t violate any of the rules, if you check. Which means that it’s possible to put V in 6th if we put T in 2nd, so (D) is the right answer.
Now, let’s look at (C). Can S be sixth? Well, if S is sixth, then we have
__ T __ P __ S __
Now, we need to put VW somewhere (since V “immediately precedes” W, V has to go right before W, with no one in between). But there’s no more places where there are two slots next to each other, so we can’t place VW. Which means that we can’t put S in sixth if T is in 2nd.
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.
