Q19 - It takes 365.25 days

[didi0504]

Thanks!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

haha! This works like Jeopardy... post in the form of a question.

I'm happy to work through this one. I like questions that involve numbers.

We're asked to find a group of people who would see continued scheduling problems as a result of the proposal.

(A) causes no scheduling problems. This group would continue always to be part of no week. What's the scheduling conflict?
(B) this group would require that they refrain from working every 7th day (let's say Sunday the first year). Well the next year they would be required to refrain from working on Saturday, Friday the next year, Thursday the year after that. Given that they're employed, see how this could cause problems?
(C) causes no scheduling problems. There are just as many days for kids to go to school.
(D) causes no scheduling problems. Holidays that are scheduled for Mondays frequently change the date of that holiday. We do that under our current system.
(E) causes no scheduling problems. They would still have access to calendars.

Does that answer your [non]question? Thanks for posting on the forum!

[skapur777]

I'm still confused as to how this whole calendar system works. I was stuck between A and B.

For A-This wouldn't be a problem because they would just know that their day doesn't belong to any week. The date itself still stays the same though, so not a problem?

For B- How is this an issue? If Jan 1st was a sunday, then 7 days later (including sunday) they stop working on saturday. Then as the years go by, the day keeps shifting back. How is that a problem for employers? It's still only one day, albeit the day keeps changing but how is that a problem?

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

I totally agree with your analysis of answer choice (A). As for answer choice (B), let me respond with a question. Do you really think that employers are really going to either change the entire work schedule for everyone else or let those people with strict religious observances work on different days than everyone else? I think those folks with "strict" religious observances would simply be out of luck!

Does that change how you view answer choice (B)? I think the issue is that these folks don't make up the mainstream.

[skapur777]

But my question is, even under the old (our current) calendar system, wouldn't they have to do the same thing? If their religious observances show that they are unable to work every Tuesday, then they would have to let them work on different days than everyone else. So I don't see how it changes.

I got the answer correct but only because the other ones were obviously incorrect, and this was my remaining option.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

But my question is, even under the old (our current) calendar system, wouldn't they have to do the same thing?

That's not the case under the current system, because under the current system we do not require that every January 1st is a Sunday.

Under the new system, there would be days that are not part of any week. So taking every 7th day off will require that 7th day to change days each year. But under the old (current) system taking every 7th day off is possible since every day fits into a Sun-Sat schedule. We allow the dates to change each year. May 1st, for example, is not on a Thursday or something - it changes every year. That flexibility allows religious observers to take every 7th day off.

[slimjimsquinn]

Hi Matt,

I still had trouble understanding the stimulus. Number-based games are exactly my problem. Do you have any advice? I often get stumped on these kinds of questions.

Thanks!

[Mab6q]

Maybe I'm over-thinking this, but I really dont see how A would not cause any scheduling problems. If they knew there birthdays would fall on the days with no week, those days will change every year. One year it will be on Jan 1, the next year it will be on Jan 2, and this seems like a problem to me. Can anyone please explain it to me in more detail?

[afgaray.red]

Diagramming may take a bit longer and this is definitely a problem I would consider skipping after spending 1 minute 25ish on, on test day. Even so, diagrams are many times much more effective than words, words.... and more words.

I really don't think the moderator has done his job since he beats around the bush too much and no one understands what he's trying to get at. And I can see why more people pick other prep test companies than Manhattan LSAT. (And that there my friends, is called a fallacy of composition!)

With that said, here is the diagram:

DEC

...SAT24(1) SUN25(2) MON26(3) TUES27(4) WEDS28(5) THUR29(6) FRI30(7) [XSATX31X]
(ACCORDING TO THE PROPOSED CALENDAR, SAT 31ST BELONGS TO NO WEEK)


JAN
SUN1(1) MON2(2) TUE3(3) WED4(4) THURS5(5) FRI6(6) SAT7(7) ...
(THE DAY PRIOR TO JAN, SUN1(1) is DEC, SAT 31ST, WHICH WE'VE ESTABLISHED BELONGS TO NO CALENDAR, SINCE IT IS THE LAST DAY OF THE YEAR. THIS RENDERS FRIDAY 30, THE 7TH DAY OF THE WEEK)

Explanation:

Work backwards from JAN, SUN1(1). You see that SAT DEC 31st is the last day of the year and is therefore omitted from the previous calendar year. Then, FRI DEC 30(7) is the 7th day of the week, the previous year, according to the proposed calendar schedule. Hence the (7).

We can see, working backwards, the day changes every year. Those with strict religious observances could not possibly work weekdays that are also the 7th day of the week - which would occur as a result of the new calendar with 364 days. This would cause a continued conflict EVERY SINGLE WEEK of the year for these people. Oh NO!

As for those with birthdays on the 31st, either this happens ONLY once a year for them, and is therefore, not considered a continued scheduling problem in that sense, OR they could schedule their birthdays on either the 30th of December, or the 1st of January forever after.

Fridays are always weekdays, and weekdays are always workdays... so to speak... even for our scrupulous friends who worship every 7th day.

This is a tough one!

Hope this helps!

[laura.bach]

I had a really difficult time with this question too. I found a good explanation here: http://dl.keywin.org/6/5/65c396393e0ee3 ... 17d971.pdf

But to paraphrase:

The stem is confusing, but the only thing that's changing is how we label the last day of the year. 364 normal, standardized days, and 1 "Limbo" day. Every year calendars would show 364 days + Limbo day. (Maybe they'll even make a holiday out of it). The thing about "leap year" to me was just extraneous information (though someone feel free to correct this interpretation).

This way we have 52 weeks and Limbo day. Every year all the dates are on the same "week days" and there are still 365 days in a year.

The thing that sets (B) apart, is it's not based on "dates or days of the week" (which all still exist) but on an "interval of days".

(B) - Conflict based on an interval of a "raw number of days". To this group, what we call (or how we label) the last day of the year is irrelevant (which is the change proposed by the new calendar). It's still a day that will affect when they take their 7th day holiday. I think a good example is given in the link above.

A - 'Conflict' based on dates. Not an issue, all the days of the year still exist. The only thing that happens is how we label the last day of the year.

("When is your anniversary?"
"It's on 'Limbo' every year-- Dec 31st.")

C - 'Conflict' based on number of days in a year. Not an issue, all days of the year still exist. The new calendar doesn't take days out of the year, it just relabels what we call the last day of each year.

D - 'Conflict' based on days of the week. Not an issue. These holidays will still exist, they'll just exist on the same Monday's/Friday's every year, and 3 day weekends will fall on the same weekends each year.

E - I get how this might be attractive if you have no idea what is going on in the question (which is quite likely, haha), but really people may actually benefit from the calendar because they'll always know which days of the week important dates will fall on.

[pbookworm]

This previously mentioned assumption is wrong for B - the reason why people who worship every 7th day would have scheduling conflicts is because employers would not be willing to give them that 7th day off (whether it falls on Saturday, Friday, Thursday, etc each different year). So out of scope!!! How are we supposed to know what employers will or will not do?

The main problem with B is that this seventh day will not fall on the same day of the week each year. And the stimulus states that many scheduling problems could be avoided if this is otherwise. Hence, if this is not otherwise, scheduling problems could not be avoided.

Simple!

[yolandadadad]

i have a problem with choice D
under the circumstance below, then it's not a 3-day break...
Sat. - extra day - Sun. - Mon.(holiday)