Sequencing Rules pg.58-61

[MariaOcheja]

Dear David M. Killoran,

I pray this meets you well.

Firstly I have to start by thanking you very much for the Study-Plan you guys created on this Powerscore, it is indeed a Power-Plan and I am grateful.

I have been enjoying my study at least I can say, so far so good. However, under (3.) Sequencing Rules: the diagramming on pages 58, 59, 60 and 61 are not quite clear to me: "why is G under 1 and the other G is under 6? How the Not Laws came under the numbers that they did is what my primary confusion is about.

Secondly on Page 60, the rule is diagrammed as [FG] ------- I and why not I ----- [FG] ?

These are my questions. Thank you for your time and I cannot wait for your response.

[Jon Denning]

Hi Maria - welcome to the Forum and thanks so much for posting! I'll pass along those compliments to Dave, as I know he'll greatly appreciate hearing from you

In the meantime, let's see if we can get these sequencing ideas sorted out!

under (3.) Sequencing Rules: the diagramming on pages 58, 59, 60 and 61 are not quite clear to me: "why is G under 1 and the other G is under 6? How the Not Laws came under the numbers that they did is what my primary confusion is about.

Great question! You're referring to the rule that states "F is displayed immediately prior to G, and G is displayed at some
point before I," which then creates a block with FG in it, followed by an I (as seen on page 60 of the 2020 edition).

Think about what that means for each variable in that sequence.

For F, G is immediately after it and then I comes in later as well, so F has a minimum of two things to
its right (later in the sequence, from left to right). That means F cannot occupy the final two spaces,
spots 5 and 6, of the diagram, because if we did try to place it in either of those positions there
wouldn't be room for the sequence to fit! So we get F Not Laws under 5 and 6.

For G, at least one thing (F) is ahead of it, and at least one thing (I) is after it. So G cannot go first
because we need room for F to G's left. And G cannot go last because we need room for I to G's right.
So we have Not Laws for G in 1 and 6.

For I, both F and G are ahead of it, so I cannot go in the first two spots: we get Not Laws for I in
spaces 1 and 2.

That's where all of the Not Laws on the diagram at the top of page 61 come from!

Secondly on Page 60, the rule is diagrammed as [FG] ------- I and why not I ----- [FG] ?

The reason we diagram I to the right of the FG block is because our numbers, 1 through 6, go from left to right. So when the rule says G is displayed at some point before I, that means G (and thus the FG block) is to the left of I, and I is to the right of G (again, the FG block). "Prior to" and "at some point before" in this case simply mean a lower number (so to the left).


I hope that helps!