–2SEVEN PEOPLE ARE SEATED IN THE SEVEN SEATS IN THE FRONT R...
Questions 1–2Seven people are seated in the seven seats in the front row of a theater. All theseats are next to each other, and only one person is in each seat. Each personsits facing toward the screen. The following is known about the positions of theseven people:There is a woman at each end of the row.A man is seated in the middle of the group.No man is seated next to another man.The man in the middle is seated between and next to two women.Two other men are also seated between and next to two women.First, look at how to flow with the information given to make a simple diagram.1 2 3 4 5 6 7Next, place a woman at each end of the row.W WNext, place a man in the middle of the group, which is seat 4.W M WThe next statement says “No man is seated next to another man,” so you can markMM and place it to the side of the diagram as follows:W M W MMFrom the next statement, “The man in the middle is seated between and next totwo women,” you can fill in as follows:W W M W W MMAnd the final statement can help you complete the diagram, placing two more men.W M W M W M W MMNotice that no man is seated next to another man. This chart is complete, but keepin mind that even a partial chart can help more than no chart at all.Now look at the questions.
1.
How many women are seated in the front row?A. 2B. 3C. 4D. 5E. 6C is correct. The chart clearly shows that four women are in the front row.2.
The man in the middle must haveA. no other men to his right.B. no women to his left.C. a man to his right and to his left.D. other men next to him.E. no women to his right.C is correct. By referring to the chart, you can see that the man in the middle has aman to his left and to his right but not next to him.Use
rule breakers
as an effective elimination technique. Rule breakers are
statements that break or contradict an initial condition or statement.
For example, suppose that a set of conditions includes among its statements:__________________Sam is taller than JimFrom just this piece of information, you could use rule breakers on the followingquestion.Sample
3.
Which of the following is a possible list of children from shortest to tallest?A. Bob, Jane, Tom, Cal, Sam, JimB. Jane, Bob, Jim, Cal, Tom, SamC. Bob, Jane, Tom, Sam, Cal, JimD. Jim, Bob, Jane, Cal, Sam, TomE. Tom, Bob, Cal, Jane, Jim, SamNotice that choices A and C break the rule of the condition that Sam is taller thanJim. And two of the remaining choices B, D, and E will break the rule of one ofthe other conditions in the problem set (not listed). As you can see, using rulebreakers can be an effective technique to quickly knock out incorrect answerchoices.Occasionally a question will be phrased in the negative. For example, “All of thefollowing are possible lists of children, from shortest to tallest, EXCEPT . . .” Inthis case, the one choice containing the rule breaker will be the correct answer tothe question. After you find it, mark that answer on your answer sheet and moveto the next question.Now that you have a few of the basics, look at a few different types of diagrams.