Diagram

[dayme11]

Hi,

I would like to know the best method to set up the game and the rules. Specifically the rules such as #1 (no more than) #2 (at least no / more than). #3 (at least as many French....this one in particular was difficult for me to understand). I would like to know how to properly diagram these (at least, more than) rules so that I can visually see the rules quickly & understand them better.

Also what is the most efficient and correct way to solve question #10 & #11.

Thanks in advance for your help! =0)

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Tough game but proper organization makes all the difference. I've attached a slide with the setup for the game as well an explanation for both questions 10 and 11. Let me know if you still need help setting up the board.


If you want to see another game just like this game check out

February 1996, Game 4 about wool rugs and silk rugs. Available in the SuperPrep published by the LSAC and available in most major bookstores. It's the exact same game!

[nazu.s.shaikh]

A bit confused here and I think its because of the third constraint, for your explanation of Q10 .. for answer choice C you wrote that a Russian novel need not be selected. But how can this be if the third constraint says that as many as french novels are selected than that many Russians novels be selected.

[noah]

A bit confused here and I think its because of the third constraint, for your explanation of Q10 .. for answer choice C you wrote that a Russian novel need not be selected. But how can this be if the third constraint says that as many as french novels are selected than that many Russians novels be selected.

I think you have misread the constraint. It states that there are at least as many French novels as Russians, meaning that the number of French novels can be the same or more than the number of Russian novels.

Think about this statement: Frank is at least as old as Rich. That means F is as old, or older than R. Same think with the rule above.

Make sense?

[nazu.s.shaikh]

Ahhh, gotcha! That clears up a lot of tangled webs.

[kdeclark]

Even after looking at your diagram, I'm don't see how you saw from the start that you could solve the game upfront. Is this a realistic thing to see for a game like this? How would you set up the game board if you didn't see that you could solve the game?

[noah]

Even after looking at your diagram, I'm don't see how you saw from the start that you could solve the game upfront.

The key - which I think should become a glaring one after a bunch of prep - is to see that there is a lot of numerical limitations in this game. And, the 3 or 4 novel rule, combined with the 5 or 6 books in general is a pretty powerful combination. One might be tempted to frame the #F>#R, but if you try it, you'll see that there are too many options flowing from that.

Is this a realistic thing to see for a game like this? How would you set up the game board if you didn't see that you could solve the game?

I think it is realistic to expect to see this sort of thing. It's a tough game otherwise, and the struggle you'd feel w/o framing it is an indicator that you should do a bit more with it.

If you didn't frame it, you probably just wrote out the rules - and the game is solvable that way, of course, but it will take some more time on the back-end, almost surely more time overall than doing it the way Matt diagrammed it.

I wish I had a more silver-bullet answer for you than to keep an eye on when there are multiple numerical distribution/limitations.

[shaynfernandez]

This is a closed binary right? How did we use the logic chain?

[noah]

This is a closed binary right? How did we use the logic chain?

To confidently categorize a game as a binary game (what we're about to start calling "conditional grouping") you want two things:

1. a binary situation
2. conditional rules

We have the first (selected or not), but we don't really have the second. Instead we see a lot of rules about the number selected. As Matt's pdf above shows, this works much better as a game about putting elements into groups, and focusing on the numbers. If you were to use the Logic Chain, you'd just be using it to show the rules, and you'd still want to do the heavy lifting about the numbers to the side. This is an extreme situation in this regard!

[syousif3]

Can you please clarify this rule:

At least as many french novels as russian novels are selected.

Thank you

[timmydoeslsat]

Can you please clarify this rule:

At least as many french novels as russian novels are selected.

Thank you

This is telling us that the amount of F(N) must always be at least equal with the number of R(N). We can definitely have more F(N) than R(N) or even the same amount. However, we cannot have F(N) be less than the R(N) amount.