Acceptable Situation Question

romanmilioti

Why is the strategy to write an individual rule then immediately check that against the acceptable situations. Does this have a strategic benefit to writing all the rules, then evaluating the acceptable situations. I am inclined to think the latter takes less time, but I was curious if someone has thoughts on this?

Terry Wrist

I don't use the individual rule method, but I can see why it could be beneficial for the first question (typically the ordering from first to last) on each game. If a rule is violated in one of the choices then you can immediately eliminate that answer choice. I find the major inferences you make on the diagram typically don't come into play till the second question of the game

canihazJD

I don't think its essential, but I personally find it faster. By the time you get to your last rule, you should have your answer for the first question. The added benefit is that you make it part of a structured procedure (translate rule, eliminate AC, combine with previous rules/board and make inferences, move to next rule) helping to eliminate stupid mistakes. Some people go -0 brute forcing everything... whatever works best for you.