Pure Sequencing Games - 'If' scenario in questions

[ec623ec623]

A lot of the times, as you go through the questions a few that start with "if" scenarios come up. I am aware that you combine the new 'if' scenarios with the original set of rules to find the answer - but once you finish that question should you disregard the newly incorporated 'if' scenarios when answering later questions? Or keep it as a new information that's been discovered? I get confused when I see a bunch of 'if' scenario questions towards the end.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi ec623623!

Great question! You should definitely keep rather than disregard that type of information.

With respect to questions that start with "if," that start to a question sounds like it is likely introducing a local condition (e.g., "If X is in spot 2, then which of the following must be in spot 1?"). A local condition imposes a rule or condition that most specifically applies to that question alone.

But you can certainly use a question about local conditions to inform how you answer other questions. For example, suppose you answered a question involving a local condition that let you know the exact order in which 5 variables go into 5 available slots. Then suppose you encounter a question asking, Which of the following could be the order of the 5 variables? If you saw the same order as in the previous question, you could use that to help you quickly get through the latter question as well.

So don't disregard diagrams from prior questions. You do want to be aware that they are just that-- they are local conditions for a specific question, so as not to confuse them with global rules that apply to the game as a whole. For that reason, it's important to keep one clean version of the setup on the page that includes the setup from the initial rules as well as any inferences you can draw from the initial rules.

[Dave Killoran]

Hi EC,

Luke is correct above, and I'll give you a more simplified rule:

• The condition stated in the question itself (such as "If X is third...") applies ONLY to that question. But anything you learn about the game overall from the question (such as that X can be third, Y could be fifth, Z could be sixth, etc) applies to the whole game.

I hope that helps and good luck!