If George does not sit immediately next to Harriet, then which one of the following could be the two people each of w...

shunhe on January 4, 2021

Hi @pparfait,

Thanks for the question! So remember, it’s a circular picnic table, so it doesn’t matter where we put people. So on your diagram, put F and G across from each other (based on rule 1). Then, realize that H can’t sit next to F because of rule 2, and H also can’t sit next to G because of the hypothetical in the stimulus. So H has to be restricted to two seats: if you put F and G in “north” and “south,” then H has to be east or west. Again, since the seats aren’t numbered, let’s just stick H in “east.” Now we also know that O and I sit next to each other, which is a two person chunk. So there’s really only two places we can put that chunk: next to F on the western side, or next to G on the western side. So either O or I are across from H either way (in “west”).

Now we want to know where M can sit. If you look at the answer choices, the only two possibilities that have a single space between them are F and H, and so that’s where M has to go, making (A) the correct answer choice.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.