55 Game 2
Comments
For question 7, (B) JLHLJ, H is before j. Why eliminate B?
It violates Rule 3.
It should be comforting to know that the answers will all, always, come back to the question of whether we've applied the rules correctly!
For rule interpretation: how do you assume that J goes exactly after H? J goes on the next day but what if there is another message on that day that gets in between them?
This is an important point—we must never assume anything!
We only know that J and H are back-to-back because the setup told us that there's never more than one message each day.
In this game for #8, if my first J is on 1 and my first H is on 4, why isn’t the max possibility 5 to the right and 3 to the left? What lets me know that we only have spaces 2/3 to the left and not 1/2/3 to the left?
I don't think I understand your question. If your first J is 1 and your first H is 4, then the maximum number between that J and that H is two (specifically, messages 2 and 3).
I don't quite get the rest of your question here.
I think I get it. I was thinking that if H is 4th then we count all spaces to the left (1,2,3) as being open . But you’re saying to count only the opened spaces (2 and 3) since space 1 is occupied by J?
Yes; the language may not always feel normal, but it is always very precise. Here, we are asked for the number of spaces between Jerome's first message and Hilary's first message. At very most, that's two spaces: spots 2 and 3.