Five Statements, Three Interns
A legal aid clinic receives five witness statements in a criminal appeal: W1 to W5. The clinic has three interns-P, Q and R-who can verify statements on the following days: P on Monday and Wednesday; Q on Tuesday and Thursday; R on Wednesday and Friday. Each statement takes one full day, and only one statement can be verified per intern per day. The statements must be sequenced under these rules: W2 must be verified before W5; W1 must be verified after W4; W3 must be verified on the same day as W1, but by a different intern; W4 cannot be verified on Monday. The appeal must be filed on Saturday morning, so all verification must be completed by Friday. The clinic also wants the earliest possible completion of W5 because its witness is travelling after Thursday.
1. Give a valid schedule for all five statements by Friday, showing the intern and the day.
Read the worked answer
Valid schedule. Monday: P verifies W2. Tuesday: Q verifies W4. Wednesday: P verifies W1 and R verifies W3, on the same day but by different interns. Thursday: Q verifies W5. Friday: R is free. Check: W2 is before W5; W4 is before W1 and is not on Monday; W3 shares W1's day but uses a different intern; every intern has at most one statement per day. All five statements are done by Thursday, before the Saturday filing.
2. If Q is unavailable on Thursday, can the schedule still be completed by Friday? If yes, show the revised schedule and explain which rule is affected.
Read the worked answer
If Q is unavailable Thursday. Yes, the schedule can still finish by Friday. Keep Monday P-W2, Tuesday Q-W4, and Wednesday P-W1 with R-W3. Move W5 to Friday with R. R then has W3 on Wednesday and W5 on Friday, which is allowed because they are different days. Q's Thursday absence does not break any sequencing rule; it only removes the earliest slot for W5. The filing deadline is still met.
3. What is the earliest day on which W5 can be verified under the original constraints? Justify each excluded day.
Read the worked answer
Earliest day for W5. W5 cannot be Monday because W2 must precede it. It cannot be Tuesday because W1 and W3 must occur on the same day with two different interns, and the only day with two available interns is Wednesday, when P and R are both available; Q alone is available Tuesday. If W5 were Wednesday, it would compete with W1 and W3 for the only two interns. Therefore the earliest W5 can be verified is Thursday, by Q, after W2 on Monday and after the Wednesday W1/W3 pair.