Reading a Timetable for Inference
A school swimming carnival timetable shows: Year 3 freestyle heats 9:00–9:40; Year 4 freestyle heats 9:40–10:20; recess 10:20–10:40; Year 5 freestyle heats 10:40–11:20; Year 6 freestyle heats 11:20–12:00; lunch 12:00–12:40; relays 12:40–1:30; presentations 1:30–1:50. A note says: "Heats run in year order. Any year whose heats finish early will start the next event early only if the marshalling area is clear." A second note says the pool must be cleared for 10 minutes after every 80 minutes of competition.
1. Using both notes, explain whether the Year 5 heats can realistically start before 10:40.
Read the worked answer
No, they cannot realistically start before 10:40. The first note allows early starts only if the marshalling area is clear, but competition began at 9:00. By 10:20, 80 minutes of competition have elapsed (9:00–10:20), triggering the second note's requirement to clear the pool for 10 minutes. That clearance fits exactly into the 10:20–10:40 recess. So even if Year 3 or Year 4 heats finish early, the mandatory clearance must still occur before Year 5 can swim. The earliest possible start is therefore 10:40, not earlier. The inference requires combining the 80-minute rule with the recess timing rather than reading either note alone.
2. A parent arrives at 12:15 wanting to watch their Year 6 child swim a relay. What should you tell them, and what does the timetable let you infer about the relay swimmers?
Read the worked answer
Tell the parent that relays do not begin until 12:40, after the 12:00–12:40 lunch break, so arriving at 12:15 means waiting about 25 minutes; the Year 6 freestyle heats have already finished (11:20–12:00). Inference about relay swimmers: the timetable lists relays as a single block after all year heats, with no year labels. This suggests relays are mixed or selected across years rather than run per year. However, the timetable does not state team selection, so we can infer only that relays follow the year heats and are not year-specific in the schedule - we cannot conclude the Year 6 child is definitely swimming. That is an assumption beyond the text.