SOLUTION: Please help me solve this. thank you! Michael, Clarissa, Reggie, and Ellen are attending Florida State University (FSU). One student is a computer science major, one is a chemistr

Question 1171529: Please help me solve this. thank you!
Michael, Clarissa, Reggie, and Ellen are attending Florida State University (FSU). One student is a computer science major, one is a chemistry major, one is a business major, and one is a biology major. From the following clues, determine which major each student is pursuing.
a. Michael and the computer science major are nextdoor neighbors.
b. Clarissa and the chemistry major have attended FSU for 2 years. Reggie has attended FSU for 3 years, and the biology major has attended FSU for 4 years.
c. Ellen has attended FSU for fewer years than Michael.
d. The business major has attended FSU for 2 years.

Answer by math_tutor2020(3817) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Facts:

Michael and the computer science major are nextdoor neighbors.
Clarissa and the chemistry major have attended FSU for 2 years. Reggie has attended FSU for 3 years, and the biology major has attended FSU for 4 years.
Ellen has attended FSU for fewer years than Michael.
The business major has attended FSU for 2 years.

From the first sentence in fact B and fact D, we see that Clarissa is the business major.

Ellen attended for fewer years compared to Michael (fact C), so there's no way she could have attended for 4 years. This means she attended for 2 years and she's the chemistry major (fact B).

So far we have
Clarissa = Business major
Ellen = Chemistry major

We just have to figure out Michael and Reggie.

By fact A, we know that Michael isn't the computer science major. He's also not the business major or chemistry major (assuming each student only does one major and no majors are repeated amongst the students). The only thing left is the biology major.

Updating the list gives
Michael = Biology major
Clarissa = Business major
Ellen = Chemistry major

Therefore,
Michael = Biology major
Clarissa = Business major
Reggie = Computer science major
Ellen = Chemistry major

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