Information Transfer: Choosing Events Around a Bus Timetable
City International Center - Sunday, November 10. November 10 is the second Sunday of the month.
10:00–11:30 Cooking Workshop (Room 2). 500 yen. Please bring an apron. Aprons can be borrowed for 100 yen. 11:45–12:30 Talk: 'Living in Tokyo' (Hall). Free. No reservation needed. 13:00–14:30 Origami Class (Room 2). 300 yen. For elementary school students and their parents.
Bus from Sota's station to the Center: 9:20, 9:50, 10:20, 12:10 (does not run on the second Sunday), 12:50. The ride takes 25 minutes. Return buses: 12:00, 13:20, 14:40, 15:10. Fare: 210 yen each way.
Sota is 15 years old. He has 1,500 yen. He must be home by 15:30, and the walk from his station takes 10 minutes. He wants to do the cooking workshop and the origami class.
1. Which of the two events Sota wants to attend can he not attend? Quote the part of the notice that decides this.
Read the worked answer
He cannot attend the Origami Class. The notice says: 'For elementary school students and their parents.' Sota is 15, so he is a junior high school student, not an elementary school student, and he is not attending with a parent. The 300 yen fee and the 13:00–14:30 time are not the problem; eligibility is.
Judgement: the time and money fit his plans, so a student who checks only the timetable and the price will wrongly include the class. The deciding line is the small condition under the event title. In information-transfer questions, read every line of the event description, not just the time and the fee.
2. Plan Sota's day so that he attends the cooking workshop and one other event, gets home by 15:30, and spends no more than 1,500 yen. Give the bus times, the events, and the total cost.
Read the worked answer
Outward: take the 9:20 bus. It arrives at 9:45, 25 minutes later and 15 minutes before the workshop.
Events:
- 10:00–11:30 Cooking Workshop, 500 yen.
- 11:45–12:30 Talk: 'Living in Tokyo', free.
- The Origami Class is not open to him, so he does not attend it.
Return: take the 13:20 bus. It reaches his station at 13:45, and he is home at 13:55.
Cost: 500 yen for the workshop + 210 + 210 for the bus = 920 yen. If he borrows an apron, add 100 yen: 1,020 yen. Both are under 1,500 yen.
Why not the 12:10 bus: it does not run on the second Sunday, and November 10 is the second Sunday. Even if it ran, it would arrive at 12:35, after the workshop had finished.
Why not the 14:40 bus: it would still get him home by 15:15, so it is possible, but there is no event for him after 12:30 and the 13:20 bus is the simpler plan.
3. Sota says, 'I'll take the 12:10 bus and still do the cooking workshop.' Give two separate reasons why he is wrong.
Read the worked answer
Reason 1 - the bus does not run that day. The timetable marks the 12:10 bus 'does not run on the second Sunday', and the notice states that November 10 is the second Sunday. The bus therefore does not exist on his day.
Reason 2 - the arrival time is too late. Even if the bus ran, the ride takes 25 minutes, so a 12:10 departure arrives at 12:35. The cooking workshop runs from 10:00 to 11:30 and is already over.
What this tests: two independent errors in one plan, a calendar condition and a time calculation. When a plan fails, check both the schedule line and the small print, because one wrong plan often breaks two different constraints.