Setup and Rule Diagrams

[Paola]

Hello!

I'm having a really tough time setting this game up. I know that it's a grouping game, but I'm stuck on how to best visualize the information. I tried doing a vertical aspect set up, but there is too much info to efficiently diagram.

[AthenaDalton]

Hi Paola,

This is a tricky game to diagram!

Since there are several rules relating to the order in which the cars (V, W, X, Z) can be worked on at a particular factory, I used the years (1, 2 and 3) as a baseline and arranged the factories (F, G, H, J, K) vertically.

What we end up with is a grid 5 spaces high (representing each factory) and 3 spaces wide (representing years 1 through 3). The actual cars (V, W, X, Z) will be placed into the spaces:

  1  2  3
F  _  _  _
G  _  _  _
H  _  _  _
J  _  _  _
K  _  _  _


The big inferences here are that if X is manufactured at a factory, Z will be manufactured the next year, and W the year after that. We also know that Z cannot be manufactured in two locations in the same year, so only one "Z" variable will be used per year. Since X Z, we have the same limitation on repeating X in years 1 or 2, since that would force two factories to manufacture Z in years 2 or 3.

I hope this helps you get started! Good luck!

[LSAT2018]

I understood the part about the restrictions on X and Z, but wouldn't it be possible that X is repeated twice?
One possibility could be the XZW block followed by X as the last car in one year (so VXZWX)


Thanks in advance!

[Shannon Parker]

I understood the part about the restrictions on X and Z, but wouldn't it be possible that X is repeated twice?
One possibility could be the XZW block followed by X as the last car in one year (so VXZWX)


Thanks in advance!

Since X cannot be followed in the same factory by W or X, it must be followed by Z. Therefore if X appears in year one or two, Z must be built in the same factory the following year. Since Z cannot be built by two different factories in the same year, it cannot appear twice, thus X cannot appear twice in years one or two.

In your proposed scenario, VXZWX, Z would then have to be built in factories G and K in year two because it would have to follow both of the Xs. Since Z cannot appear twice this is not allowed.

Hope this helps
Shannon