Q5

[ttunden]

Can anyone help me understand how you derive C as the answer?

The Q is asking for the minimum number of different salaries earned by the partners

I drew out all the possible orders but im still confused how they got 7.


was wondering if I could see your work

Thanks

[sumukh09]

This question is testing our knowledge of what we know and what we don't know with respect to the tree diagram and each lawyer's respective position on the diagram. What we know is that K has the highest salary of them all so no one can match K's salary. But we don't know the relative positions of I to L, F to N, and N to M, G, J, and H.

To find the minimum number of different salaries we'd have to pair up some lawyers which would represent them having the same salary. K can't be paired up with anyone so we leave him alone. However, I and L can be paired up, F and N can be paired up, and N can be paired up with M, G, J, and H. The reason we're able to pair up these lawyers is because we don't know their relative positions to one another as they're not defined in the tree diagram; so they can potentially have the same salaries.

So that's K + the 6 pairs which gives us 7, hence answer choice C.