Linear Setup Practice Drill #3

[erika.2014]

Hi! I have a general question I was hoping someone could answer: if there is a question asking "which one of the following must be true" and answer (c) states, "the maximum number of patients scheduled for Friday is three," does that mean it has to be possible for three patients to be scheduled for Friday? Or, if the maximum number of patients scheduled for Friday given the restrictions was actually 2, would answer choice (c) still be correct?

This is a question I was considering when reading about a problem on page 117 of the 2017 logic games bible. In that problem, I think it is actually possible for 3 patients to be scheduled on Friday, but I was wondering hypothetically if (c) would still be the correct answer even if it were only possible for 1 or 2 patients to be scheduled on Friday, because in the answer explanation the authors don't seem to find it necessary to consider whether 3 patients really could be scheduled for Friday.

[Adam Tyson]

Interesting question, Erika! If I knew that Friday had a max of 2, and I was faced with that question and answer choice, I would say that answer was a loser. If the maximum is 2, then it is not true that the maximum is 3. Of course, I would have to consider the other answer choices available to me and pick the best one, even if I hated it. Sometimes the "best" answer is lousy, but you hate it less than you hate the other 4.

The folks at LSAC are pretty clever, though! Here's how I would expect them to word the answer if 2 were the maximum and they wanted to make it harder: "No more than 3 may be scheduled for Friday." Now that must be true! If 2 is the max, then it's certain that Friday cannot have more than 3, right? Clever and cruel, but logical and the sort of thing they love to test.

Keep at it, and good luck!