Which one of the following, if substituted for the constraint that if Jaramillo is assigned to one of the ambassadors...

Victoria on June 7, 2021

Hi @Dina,

Happy to help!

Let's start by going through our game set-up. We know that a government needs to assign new ambassadors to Venezuela, Yemen, and Zambia.

There are five candidates for these ambassadorships: J, K, L, N, and O.

One ambassador will be assigned to each country and no ambassador will be assigned to more than one country. Therefore, 3 of the 5 candidates will be assigned to ambassadorships and 2 of the 5 candidates will not.

_ _ _ | _ _
V Y Z

Now let's start going through our conditions.

Rule 1: Either K or N, but not both, is assigned to one of the ambassadorships.

IN: K/N _ _
OUT: N/K _

Rule 2: If J is assigned to one of the ambassadorships, then so is K.

J --> K
Not K --> Not J

We know that both K and N cannot be assigned to ambassadorships; therefore, if J is assigned to one of the ambassadorships, then N cannot be. This is restated by answer choice (D), making it our correct answer.

Answer choice (A) is incorrect because it is simply a reversal of Rule 2 and it is possible that J is assigned to an ambassadorship and K is not.

K --> J
Not J --> Not K

We know that, if J is not assigned, then K cannot be assigned; however, it is entirely possible that J is assigned, and K is not assigned.

Notice that the following set-up meets all of our conditions (with Rule 2 substituted):

N J L | K O
V Y Z

Rule 1 - Either K or N, but not both is assigned to one of the ambassadorships. N is the ambassador to Venezuela and K is not assigned to an ambassadorship.

Substituted Rule 2 - K is not assigned to an ambassadorship, so this rule is irrelevant.

Rule 3 - O is not assigned as ambassador to Venezuela, so this rule is irrelevant.

Rule 4 - L is assigned as the ambassador to Zambia.

Therefore, answer choice (A) does not have the same effect as the current Rule 2 because it is possible for J to be assigned to an ambassadorship when K is not.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.