Logical and Deductive Reasoning Flashcards

Statements: 'No firearms are permitted in court without authorization. Detective Mills brought a firearm into court.' What must be true?

Answer: Detective Mills had authorization

Since no firearms are permitted without authorization and Mills brought one in, Mills must have had authorization — otherwise a violation occurred; the only valid logical conclusion consistent with both statements is that authorization existed.

A test has four sections: Math, Reading, Writing, and Reasoning. Candidates must pass Math before taking Writing. A candidate passed Writing. What must be true?

Answer: The candidate passed Math

Passing Math is a prerequisite for Writing; since the candidate passed Writing, they must have passed Math.

Three analysts — P, Q, R — each specialize in exactly one area: Finance, Operations, or HR. P does not specialize in Finance. Q specializes in HR. What does R specialize in?

Answer: Finance

Q takes HR; P cannot take Finance, so P takes Operations; that leaves Finance for R.

Policy: 'Grievances submitted without a supervisor signature are returned unprocessed.' A grievance arrives without a supervisor signature. What happens?

Answer: It is returned unprocessed

The policy is explicit: missing signature means the grievance is returned unprocessed.

A logical sequence: 2, 5, 10, 17, 26, ___. What is the next number?

Answer: 37

The differences are 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 — consecutive odd numbers — so 26 + 11 = 37.

An agency processes applications in batches of 10. Each batch takes 4 hours. An agent processes 3 batches per day. How many applications does the agent process in a 5-day work week?

Answer: 150

3 batches/day × 10 applications/batch × 5 days = 150 applications.

Statement: 'Either the budget is approved or the project is cancelled. The project was not cancelled.' What must be true?

Answer: The budget was approved

In an 'either/or' statement, if one option is false (project not cancelled), the other must be true (budget approved).