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- Wed Oct 11, 2017 4:52 pm
#40434
Complete Question Explanation
(The complete setup for this game can be found here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=6972)
The correct answer choice is (C)
This is the most challenging question in this game, requiring us to identify an answer choice with an assignment that violates a condition in the game. As with Question #15, carefully examine the nature of the answer choices before proceeding to set them up. It turns out they are all quite similar: each answer choice contains what could be a complete assignment of artifacts to Sweden. Our job is to determine which one of these assignments is impossible.
First, check if any of the answer choices contains W without Y, or vice versa. Unfortunately, this is not the case (it would have been an easy question if it were). Second, examine your prior work. For instance, one of the setups for Question #16 shows that it is possible for V, W, X, and Y to have all originated in Sweden. This rules out answer choice (E).
Without any additional inferences, we have no choice but to set up each of the four remaining answer choices.
Answer choice (A) is incorrect, because V alone could have originated in Sweden. If it did, then X would originate in Norway, while W and Y would originate in Iceland. To comply with the I > N rule, Z cannot originate in Norway. Therefore, it would originate in Iceland:
This solution does not violate any of the conditions in the game and is therefore incorrect.
Answer choice (B) is incorrect, for the same reason answer choice (A) is. If V and Z originated in Sweden, then X must originate in Norway, while the remaining two variables must originate in Iceland in compliance with the third rule.
This solution does not violate any of the conditions in the game and is therefore incorrect.
Answer choice (C) is the correct answer choice, and savvy test-takers should have tested it first. Why? Because answer choice (C) presents a list of artifacts in which several key variables are missing: V, X, and Z.
Let’s go back to the main setup. What do we know about Sweden? First, X must be there, or else it is in Norway. In answer choice (C), X is not in Sweden. Therefore, it is in Norway:
Second, if V originated in Iceland, then Z originated in Sweden:
By the contrapositive, we know that if Z did not originate in Sweden (as is the case here), then V cannot originate in Iceland, and must therefore originate in either Norway or Sweden:
However, in answer choice (C), neither Z nor V can be found among the artifacts that originated in Sweden. We must therefore conclude that V originated in Norway:
This solution is in violation of the third rule of the game (I > N), immediately revealing that answer choice (C) cannot be true, and is therefore correct:
Answer choice (D) is incorrect, because if only X and Z originated in Sweden, the game has two possible solutions (with distributions 2-1-2 or 3-0-2):
As discussed earlier, answer choice (E) is also incorrect, because one of the setups for Question #16 shows that it is possible for V, W, X, and Y to have all originated in Sweden:
(The complete setup for this game can be found here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=6972)
The correct answer choice is (C)
This is the most challenging question in this game, requiring us to identify an answer choice with an assignment that violates a condition in the game. As with Question #15, carefully examine the nature of the answer choices before proceeding to set them up. It turns out they are all quite similar: each answer choice contains what could be a complete assignment of artifacts to Sweden. Our job is to determine which one of these assignments is impossible.
First, check if any of the answer choices contains W without Y, or vice versa. Unfortunately, this is not the case (it would have been an easy question if it were). Second, examine your prior work. For instance, one of the setups for Question #16 shows that it is possible for V, W, X, and Y to have all originated in Sweden. This rules out answer choice (E).
Without any additional inferences, we have no choice but to set up each of the four remaining answer choices.
Answer choice (A) is incorrect, because V alone could have originated in Sweden. If it did, then X would originate in Norway, while W and Y would originate in Iceland. To comply with the I > N rule, Z cannot originate in Norway. Therefore, it would originate in Iceland:
This solution does not violate any of the conditions in the game and is therefore incorrect.
Answer choice (B) is incorrect, for the same reason answer choice (A) is. If V and Z originated in Sweden, then X must originate in Norway, while the remaining two variables must originate in Iceland in compliance with the third rule.
This solution does not violate any of the conditions in the game and is therefore incorrect.
Answer choice (C) is the correct answer choice, and savvy test-takers should have tested it first. Why? Because answer choice (C) presents a list of artifacts in which several key variables are missing: V, X, and Z.
Let’s go back to the main setup. What do we know about Sweden? First, X must be there, or else it is in Norway. In answer choice (C), X is not in Sweden. Therefore, it is in Norway:
Second, if V originated in Iceland, then Z originated in Sweden:
By the contrapositive, we know that if Z did not originate in Sweden (as is the case here), then V cannot originate in Iceland, and must therefore originate in either Norway or Sweden:
However, in answer choice (C), neither Z nor V can be found among the artifacts that originated in Sweden. We must therefore conclude that V originated in Norway:
This solution is in violation of the third rule of the game (I > N), immediately revealing that answer choice (C) cannot be true, and is therefore correct:
Answer choice (D) is incorrect, because if only X and Z originated in Sweden, the game has two possible solutions (with distributions 2-1-2 or 3-0-2):
As discussed earlier, answer choice (E) is also incorrect, because one of the setups for Question #16 shows that it is possible for V, W, X, and Y to have all originated in Sweden:
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