Correct : b

Given:
• P is learning French and Dutch.
• Q is learning Chinese and Japanese.
• R is learning Spanish and French.
• S is learning Dutch and Japanese.
Establish Language Difficulty Hierarchy:
We are given four comparative statements:
1. French is easier than Dutch (French < Dutch)
2. Chinese is harder than Japanese (Japanese < Chinese)
3. Dutch is easier than Japanese (Dutch < Japanese)
4. Spanish is easier than French (Spanish < French)
Let's combine these relationships to create an ordered list from easiest to hardest:
• From (4), Spanish is easier than French.
• From (1), French is easier than Dutch.
• From (3), Dutch is easier than Japanese.
• From (2), Japanese is easier than Chinese.
This gives us the complete difficulty order:
Spanish < French < Dutch < Japanese < Chinese
To make comparisons easier, let's assign a conceptual "difficulty score" where 1 is the easiest and 5 is the hardest:
• Spanish: 1
• French: 2
• Dutch: 3
• Japanese: 4
• Chinese: 5
Evaluate Each Girl's Pair of Languages:
Now, let's list the languages for each girl along with their difficulty scores:
• P: French (2), Dutch (3)
• Q: Chinese (5), Japanese (4)
• R: Spanish (1), French (2)
• S: Dutch (3), Japanese (4)
To find the girl learning the "most difficult pair," we can consider the total difficulty of the two languages. Let's sum the difficulty scores for each pair:
• P: 2 (French) + 3 (Dutch) = 5
• Q: 5 (Chinese) + 4 (Japanese) = 9
• R: 1 (Spanish) + 2 (French) = 3
• S: 3 (Dutch) + 4 (Japanese) = 7
Identify the Most Difficult Pair:
Comparing the total difficulty scores:
• P: 5
• Q: 9
• R: 3
• S: 7
Girl Q has the highest total difficulty score (9), indicating that she is learning the most difficult pair of languages (Chinese and Japanese).