University entrant Schmidt is writing his timetable for his first semester.
The process diagram shows how he proceeds.
MNH: Maximum number of hours that Schmidt has time for courses each week.
NHP: Number of hours that Schmidt has already planned in for courses each week.
"fully booked": a course is fully booked when no more places are free.
"time conflict": The course Schmidt has to decide about takes place at the same time as a course already in the timetable.
Example 5
Which of the following statements is/are correct?
I. It is possible that Schmidt includes a course in the timetable for which he does not have enough time.
II. It is possible that Schmidt includes a course in the timetable that is less important than a course that has not been included.
(A) Only statement I is correct.
(A) Only statement I is correct. incorrect
(B) Only statement II is correct.
(B) Only statement II is correct. incorrect
(C) Both statements are correct.
(C) Both statements are correct. correct
(D) Neither of the two statements is correct.
(D) Neither of the two statements is correct. incorrect
Degree of difficulty: high
Solution
Statement I is correct: Schmidt has a maximum of 20 hours time for courses per week (Element G: “MNH := 20“). Let us assume that 19 hours per week have already been planned for courses (NHP = 19). Now a course which lasts two hours per week is
selected from the List K. The course isn’t full yet and there is no time conflict (see Elements W and X). Under these conditions, NHP increases by two hours and the course is added to the weekly schedule (see Elements M and N). The weekly schedule now comprises 21 hours (NHP = 21), even though Schmidt only has 20 hours at his disposal. This circumstance is reflected in Element Y, but no correction is made.
Statement II is also correct: Let us assume that a course selected from List K (see Element H) cannot be added to the weekly schedule because it is already full (see Element W). The next step is the selection of a less important course, which is not full yet and with which there is no time conflict, in Element H. This course is then added to the weekly schedule in Element N.
Therefore C is the solution to this item.
Example 6
Which of the following statements is/are correct?
I. If there is a time conflict between two courses which both still have
free places, Schmidt always chooses the more important course.
II. If decision point Y is eliminated,
Schmidt would always plan in more than twenty hours per week.
(A) Only statement I is correct.
(A) Only statement I is correct. correct
(B) Only statement II is correct.
(B) Only statement II is correct. incorrect
(C) Both statements are correct.
(C) Both statements are correct. incorrect
(D) Neither of the two statements is correct.
(D) Neither of the two statements is correct. incorrect
Degree of difficulty: high
Solution
Statement I is correct: Schmidt always chooses the most important course from
the list K and checks whether he can sign up for it. A "time conflict" means that the course
Schmidt has to make a decision about takes place at the same time as a course which is already
in his timetable. The more important course has always been chosen first and included in the
timetable. Every course Schmidt considers later – and thus every less important
course – is crossed off the list because of the time clash.
Statement II is not correct. If Schmidt includes only few courses with less than
20 hours altogether in list K from the start, then even without decision point Y he does not
exceed his 20-hour limit during his planning process; in other words he does not necessarily
plan in more course time than he has at his disposal.
Therefore the correct solution is (A), since only statement I is correct.
