Setup and Rule Diagrams

[Stephanie Oswalt]

We recently received the following question from a student. An instructor will respond below. Thanks!

Hi,
LSAT logic games bible, 2017 edition Pg 236-239

In reading the book I noticed that on question 12, answer choice D is possible, but not certain a. I understand that E is the correct answer. However the diagrams showed in the game explanation fail to recognize that a possible game choice could start with Y. The game says that W and Y precede S, but it does not say that they are consecutive. Am I correct in saying a possible game is
YTWSVZX or YTWSXZV

If these are possible, then the linear diagram is a bit error in showing T— W,Y along spaces 1-3. This does not affect the answers, but I do believe it is an incorrect diagram. Please let me know do that I can know if I made an error in drawing my diagram.

Thanks
Sarah Elizabeth

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for the message! There is no error in the diagram, but you have misinterpreted what it says, so let me explain in more detail

The parenthetical notation ( ) as used in LG means that the elements within the parentheses must be used in those spaces. So, in this game, the ( T— W, Y ) notation over spaces 1-3 means that we must have two elements within those three spaces:

• T— W
  
  and
  
  Y

We use the parentheses because they do not imply an exact order (that's the problem we are trying to get around by using the parentheses, actually!), and because they are particularly good in handling 3 or more variables where some of the variables have relationships (such as a block or sequence). So, in this case, you could have any of the following orders:

• T, W, Y
  
  T, Y, W
  
  Y, T, W

Note that if the order was actually fixed where T was first and Y couldn't be first, then we wouldn't need parentheses at all and we could just show that! The parentheses help us capture the uncertainty of the order over those particular spaces.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[Dania_ha]

Hi there!

When reading this question, I made the common mistake of thinking rule 5 is represented as NR rather than R--->NR. What I missed is that the word "each" introduces a sufficient condition. Now I know that on page 68, a list of words that introduce a sufficient condition includes the word "every". So my question is, are the words "each" and "every" interchangeable? i.e. whenever I see the word "each" does that mean a conditional statement is being introduced in the rule?

I really appreciate the help! I'm driving myself crazy trying to wrap my head around rule 5 and why it is diagrammed the way it is

Best wishes,

Dania A.

[Ryan Twomey]

Hey Dania,

The word every and each are interchangeable. I am hesitant to make a hard set rule that every time you see "each" in the logic games you should diagram a conditional statement, but this is more than likely the case.

However, I wouldn't beat yourself up over the diagramming of this rule. I think you could have been successful in this game as long as you understood that your NR meant every time you get a R you need an N before it, and that you are allowed to have NN. But you really needed to see that you could not have an R first or an R 7th or an R5th. If you see and understand that, then I would say you are in good shape as far as understanding the rule goes.

Writing the rule as a conditional would certainly help you understand the above deductions, but if you understood it without writing it as a conditional, you could have still done this game in the correct manner.

But to wrap this all up, I would focus more on making sure you got all of the above deductions in Dave's Diagram. If all of the deductions make sense, you are in good shape. And yes, every and each are interchangeable.

Don't stress too much and I'm sure you're going to do well on this test, and I wish you all of the luck.

Best,
Ryan

[Dania_ha]

Hey Dania,

The word every and each are interchangeable. I am hesitant to make a hard set rule that every time you see "each" in the logic games you should diagram a conditional statement, but this is more than likely the case.

However, I wouldn't beat yourself up over the diagramming of this rule. I think you could have been successful in this game as long as you understood that your NR meant every time you get a R you need an N before it, and that you are allowed to have NN. But you really needed to see that you could not have an R first or an R 7th or an R5th. If you see and understand that, then I would say you are in good shape as far as understanding the rule goes.

Writing the rule as a conditional would certainly help you understand the above deductions, but if you understood it without writing it as a conditional, you could have still done this game in the correct manner.

But to wrap this all up, I would focus more on making sure you got all of the above deductions in Dave's Diagram. If all of the deductions make sense, you are in good shape. And yes, every and each are interchangeable.

Don't stress too much and I'm sure you're going to do well on this test, and I wish you all of the luck.

Best,
Ryan

Thank you so much Ryan, this helped so much!