February 1992, #5

[philosophriend]

Hello all! Coming to you with a clarity question. On game 3 of the chapter one homework (1-95), I am having trouble understanding question 5 and its answer... Upon working on the homework, I really had no idea how to assess this question. To add to this, reading the answer key did not help much in understanding why answer choice 'C' was correct.

Other than this question, I got all the others right (so I did not have a problem with diagramming or understanding the breakdown). Is there another way in which someone can explain/dismantle this question for me? Thank you.

[BethRibet]

Hi Philosphriend,

Thanks for the question.

Just to confirm (I know you've got a working diagram, but it helps to visualize in explaining),

we know the following sequence from the rules:

K -- I -- F -- M -- G -- J -- H

Because these 7 people all are ranked one to another, they must have seven different salaries. We also know that K precedes L, and that L precedes N. But L could have the same salary as any of the people between I through H, and the same is true of N. So we could have 9 different salaries for each of 9 people, or 8, if N or L but not both matches someone else other than K, or just 7, if for instance, L is the same as I, and N is the same as F (or anyone else after I). So 7 is the *minimum", which is what the question calls for.

Hope this helps!
Beth