If Suarez is not the most qualified of the candidates for sheriff, then Anderson is. Thus, if the most qualified cand...

Mehran on June 6, 2017

@kidarby we would diagram the first sentence as follows:

"If Suarez is not the most qualified of the candidates for sheriff, then Anderson is."

not SMQC ==> AMQC
not AMQC ==> SMQC

"Thus, if the most qualified candidate is elected and Suarez is not elected, then Anderson will be."

PR: MQC ==> E
not E ==> not MQC

P: S = not E
not E ==> not SMQC

So not SMQC ==> AMQC

C: AMQC ==> E

(B) exhibits this exact patter of reasoning:

"If the lowest bidder on sanitation contract is not Dillon, then it is Ramsey."

not DLBSC ==> RLBSC
not RLBSC ==> DLBSC

"So if the contract goes to the lowest bidder and it does not go to Dillon, then it will go to Ramsey."

PR: LB ==> C
not C ==> not LB

P: D = not C
not C ==> not DLBSC

So not DLBSC ==> RLBSC

C: RLBSC ==> C

Notice that you are given either/or options for most qualified (stimulus) and lowest bidder (B).

We are then told that if this criterion (i.e. most qualified/lowest bidder) is elected (stimulus) or awarded the contract (B) and it is not one of our two options (i.e. Suarez/Dillon), then it must be the other (i.e. Anderson/Ramsey).

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