We know that there are three teams which have placed the highest in a high school debate tournament: F, G, and H.
Each team has exactly two members out of: M, N, O, P, S, and T.
We know that these teams have placed the highest tournament, so we must have a team in each of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
Rule 5 tells us that Team G placed higher than Team H. This gives us three possible scenarios.
Option 1: F1 G2 H3
Option 2: G1 F2 H3
Option 3: G1 H2 F3
Rules 1 and 2 definitively place S and T within our outlined options above. We know that S is on Team G and T is on the team that comes in 2nd place.
Option 1
F1: G2: S T H3:
Option 2
G1: S F2: T H3:
Option 3
G1: S H2: T F3:
We also know that M and P cannot be on the same team and that P's team places higher than N's team. The only scenario that this severely restricts is Option 1.
Team G is full; therefore, P must be on Team F and N must be on Team H to satisfy Rule 4.
Option 1
F1: P G2: S T H3: N
Notice that we run into a problem here. M and P cannot be on the same team. This means that M must be on Team H. However, the stimulus tells us that M is on a team that places higher than Team H. This means that M cannot be on Team H.
These two things cannot both be true. Therefore, it cannot be true that Team F places first because we run into this problem.
To demonstrate that something could be true, we simply need to find one instance where it is true. Let's try Option 2 to see if P could be on the first-place team.
G1: S P F2: T M H3: N O
This scenario meets all of our conditions:
- S is on Team G - T is on Team F which is in 2nd place - M and P are not on the same team - P's team places higher than N's team - Team G places higher than Team H - M is on Team F which places higher than Team H
Therefore, it could be true that P is on the first-place team, making (E) the correct answer.
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.
