My dilemma

JPWPUSMA
Sun, 28 Dec 2008 01:48:33 +0000

I’m a first year community college student and I’m still trying to get into West Point; I’ve been on this website since high school, but they messed up on username and password so I had to make a new one. This is what accounts for a low post count etc., even though I don’t post that much I do lurk alot. West Point highly values the SAT and pretty much if you have a 2100+ your in but you need to have both sections in the 600’s+. Anyways I’ve taken the SAT 5 times highest (1630/2400)and the ACT 3 times higest (20/36) I didn’t like the ACT so I’m sticking with the SAT until I get in. Currently I working with the Barrons 23rd edition and I’m stuck on a math problem:

The map below shows all the roads connecting five towns. How many different ways are there to go from A to E if you may not return to a town after you leave it and you may not go through both C and D?

A) 8

B) 12

C) 16

D) 24

e) 32

ok the answer is B I know this from the book. But if you haven’t cracked a barrons what everyone says is true it’s HARD! All the examples are like 5 level math problems from the beginning which I find hilarious. But the point of my post is I SERIOUSLY don’t understand their answer explanation and if someone could explain it better for me it would help, and yes I did reread Tactic 14.

Here is their explanation:

Use Tactic 14 (systematically make lists). First systematically list the different orders in whch you can visit the towns, and then calculate the number of ways to follow each itinerary. According to the conditions, here are the possible paths and the number of ways for each, listed alphabetically.

ABCE= 2

ABE= 1

ACBE= 2

ACE= 1

ADE= 6

= (b)= 12 different ways to make the trip. Ok I get all of that but why can’t I go ECA or EBA AND WHY DOES abe AND ACE have 1 route(s)??? Please help ASAP!