The table below presents operational and maintenance data for seven municipal water pumping stations across four municipal districts.
| Station Code | District | Facility Age (Years) | Energy Consumption (kWh/m³) | Maintenance Backlog ($k) | Annual Outages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha-1 | North | 14 | 0.85 | 140 | 3 |
| Bravo-4 | South | 22 | 1.12 | 210 | 5 |
| Charlie-2 | East | 14 | 0.78 | 185 | 2 |
| Delta-9 | North | 28 | 1.25 | 95 | 5 |
| Echo-3 | West | 22 | 0.94 | 210 | 1 |
| Foxtrot-7 | South | 18 | 1.05 | 160 | 4 |
| Golf-5 | West | 14 | 0.85 | 120 | 2 |
Statement: If the table is sorted in ascending order by Facility Age (Years), with any ties broken by sorting in descending order by Maintenance Backlog ($k), then among the stations with a Facility Age of 14 years, the station with the lowest Energy Consumption rating is listed immediately after the station with the highest Annual Outages count.
Answer: Answer
Answer
The statement is False because Charlie-2 (lowest Energy Consumption among 14-year stations) appears immediately before Alpha-1 (highest Annual Outages among 14-year stations) when applying the secondary descending sort on Maintenance Backlog.
The correct response evaluates the multi-column sort step-by-step: filtering the 14-year-old stations (Alpha-1, Charlie-2, Golf-5), sorting them by descending Maintenance Backlog (yielding Charlie-2 then Alpha-1 then Golf-5), and identifying that Charlie-2 (lowest energy consumption) precedes Alpha-1 (highest annual outages) rather than following it.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Multi-Column Sorting with Primary and Secondary Tie-Breaking Criteria