#16 - Local, Could Be True

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[FMorell]

Help, I do not understand what I am missing with this question. I did this game 5 times and keep getting 4/5 with question 16 wrong each time.

G edits Z then F must edit L.
H cannot edit M which forces it to F because G can only edit M if it's alone.
P and S must be edited together, so that forces it away from H because it would give H 3 text books.

That leaves me with

G=Z
F=L/P/S
H=M and R

This is what I keep coming up with. I know I am missing something so simple, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out what it is.

[Adam Tyson]

The first thing I would suggest, FMorell, is that you look over our discussion of the setup of this game here:

viewtopic.php?f=1280&t=26612

There, you should discover that one option is a 2-2-2 distribution in which the PS block goes to either G or to H.

Looking over your analysis, I see that you've made a false inference in your setup when you said this:

"P and S must be edited together, so that forces it away from H because it would give H 3 text books."

Run through that again, because H would not have to get 3 books, but could (and in fact, MUST) get exactly 2 books, P and S. Here's the step by step on that:

1. G gets Z, which means two things: F gets L, because F always gets at least one of those two, and G cannot get M, because whenever G gets M, G gets nothing else. This also means that F gets M. Up to this point, you're good.

2. The PS block cannot now go to F, because F already has L and M and cannot get 4 books. The only possible distributions in this game are 3-1-2 and 2-2-2! So the PS block MUST go to H, and H is done.

3. That leaves R not assigned yet, and it can go to either F (for a 3-1-2 distribution) or to G (a 2-2-2 distribution).

Therein lies the answer! R can go to F or else to G, but none of those other answer choices can happen.

Give some thought to why you determined that H would end up getting 3 books. Did you perhaps think that H had to edit R? Since R is a random variable in this game, anyone can edit it. Maybe you carried that inference over from question 15, which was a local question in which H did edit R? The restrictions in local questions apply only to those questions, and they should not be carried forward into other questions!