#16 - Local, Must Be True

[Dave Killoran]

Complete Question Explanation
(The complete setup for this game can be found here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=13387)

The correct answer choice is (B)

To answer this question we must again consider the possible Days-to-Cities numerical distribution. The distribution which provides the greatest number of days in one city is the 4-2-2-2-2-2 distribution, which would allow Hannah to spend 4 days in Nomo, and 2 days in each of the other five cities she visits.

Answer choice (B) is the correct answer choice because although Hannah maximizes her time in Nomo, she can still visit the counties in the 4-1-1 Cities-to-Countries distribution, allowing her to visit four cities in Y.

Note also that this question and answer choice is phrased oddly: literally, it must be true that it is possible for her to visit four cities in Y.

[AJH]

I initially chose E, but now see why that is wrong. I am now having a hard time seeing why B is correct and D is not. Wouldn't the distribution be 2:2:2 with 2 days in one city and 4 days in another(Nomo) in county X, then two days in each of the two cities in countries Y and Z? Meaning that she couldn't spend more than 4 days in country Z (re: answer choice D). If she visited 4 cities in country Y, wouldn't she be way over the 14 day limit?

[James Finch]

Hi AJH,

It looks like you were able to infer that the two possible numerical distributions for this game are:

4 cities, 2 days each, and 2 cities, 3 days each

and

5 cities, 2 days each, with 1 city being 4 days

This question asks us to use the second distribution. As Nomo takes up 4 days and is in country X, we have 5 cities left to spread across countries Y and Z. One each must go into both columns, so we end up with 3 that act as wild cards and may go into any of the three columns, meaning that the max number of cities visited per country would be 4, for any of these countries. Knowing this, we can get into the answer choices:

(A)--We know that Hannah may visit 3 other cities in any country, so this is false

(B)--We know this is true, as we can have up to 4 cities visited in any single country. This is the correct answer.

(C)--False, from our distributions we can see that the max days she can spend in any one city is 4.

(D)--4 cities in a country means 8 (for Y and Z) or 10 days spent there. As we can have 4 cities visited in any of the three countries, this is false.

(E)--False, Hannah could visit the remaining 5 cities in Y and Z, she just can't visit more than 4 in any single country.

Hope this clears things up!

[EsquireGirl]

Hello,

I read the explanations and I understand why she COULD visit 4 cities in country Y, but I do not understand why she MUST visit 4 cities in country Y. I have 2 stumbling blocks:

1) Why is the set up not the same as in #14?
2)What makes countries Y and Z different in terms of cities and days that Hannah visits?

Thanks.

[Francis O'Rourke]

I agree that the word choice is confusing. Since this logic game was taken from the 1991 LSAT, you will see some strange phrasings.

The administrator mentioned this exact issue above: "Note also that this question and answer choice is phrased oddly: literally, it must be true that it is possible for her to visit four cities in Y."

In other words, "it must be true that it is possible" could also mean "it must be true that it could be true," or simply "it could be true." This seems unnecessary to use "must" and "could" in the same breath, and the LSAC seems to have agreed; we don't see this sort of word choice very often.

Let me know if this helps!

[nyc431]

Note also that this question and answer choice is phrased oddly: literally, it must be true that it is possible for her to visit four cities in Y.

The odd phrasing on this one tripped me up. But now I know to be aware of this. Have you seen this unusual type of phrasing in answer choices for a "must be true" LG question in any other games?

[Adam Tyson]

The short answer, nyc431, is yes, we have seen a few questions over the years asking for what must be true in which the correct answer has been about something being possible. It must be true that that thing is allowed to happen. But not very often! Just be aware that it's always possible for something like this to come up again.