Logical Reasoning

PT117 · S2 · Q11 For many centuries it was

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For many centuries it was believed that only classical Euclidean geometry could provide a correct way of mathematically representing the universe.

Statements

For a long time people thought only classical Euclidean geometry could correctly mathematically represent the universe.

Pivot (nevertheless)

Scientists now believe that non-Euclidean geometry is more useful for some areas of scientific theory.

A non-Euclidean representation underlies the cosmological theory that now most widely accepted as accurate.

Evaluate

We aim to find Overlapping Language in Inference paragraphs, and the both the 2nd and 3rd claims are about "non-Euclidean representations". The 3rd sentence refers to it with a pronoun, though, so it's subtle ("such a representation").

This pronoun callback means that we should really read the 3rd sentence as .

We get a big Pivot tension in the paragraph between the Old belief and New belief.

We used to think that only Euclidean could provide a correct way of representing the universe.

But now the model of the universe most widely accepted by scientists is a non-Euclidean representation.

Goal

When there's a big Pivot creating tension between the before and after, we expect the correct answer to safely reconcile those two.

If we read something like, , then an overreaction might be something like "Tony was wrong" or "Maria loves pasta" or "the only pasta Maria likes is rigatoni".

None of those are provable. Maybe Maria had to eat rigatoni as part of a business dinner, even though she hates pasta.

A safely worded version of reconciling those two would be more like (A) Either Tony is wrong about Maria or people are sometimes willing to eat things they hate.

So we should watch out for answers that go too far in the new direction and trash classic Euclidean as worthless or dumb.

11.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the statements above?

  1. Scientists who use Euclidean geometry

    Too Strong: likely to believe

    We actually know nothing about what "scientists who use Euclidean geometry" believe. We know for many centuries in the past people had a belief about Euclidean geometry, but this is about current scientists.

    2% picked this

  2. Correct

    Scientists generally do not now

    Why this is right

    This safely reconciles both sides of the pivot. Given that the representation of the universe that is most widely accepted by scientists as accurate is non-Euclidean, it would be really weird if most scientists still believed that "only Euclidean representations can correctly represent the universe."

    Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    69% picked this

  3. Non-Euclidean geometry is a more

    Unknown Comparison: more complete

    We know that non-Euclidean is "more useful in developing certain areas of theory" and that the most widely accepted representation of the universe is non-Euclidean. But we don't have any language that justifies calling it a more complete way of representing the universe. Is "accuracy" the same as "completeness"? Picture two different biographies of the Abraham Lincoln. One of them might be more complete (i.e. cover more parts of his life) but still be less accurate (i.e. contains more factual inaccuracies).

    15% picked this

  4. An accurate scientific theory cannot

    Too Strong: cannot

    This is waaaaay too strong. Never in the history of scientific theories is it possible to develop an accurate scientific theory, without first discovering a uniquely correct way of mathematically representing the universe? So if an ornithologist wants to develop an accurate scientific theory about the mating behavior of the bluebird, she has to first discover a uniquely correct way of mathematically representing the universe? That's crazy talk.

    3% picked this

  5. The usefulness of a mathematical

    Unknown Comparison: more important

    We're told that some scientists find these new non-Euclidean representations to be more useful and more accurate (i.e. correct) than Euclidean representations. We never make any head-to-head comparison about whether usefulness is more/less important than correctness.

    10% picked this

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