Logical Reasoning

PT154 · S4 · Q11 Gyms and fitness centers are

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Gyms and fitness centers are sometimes good places to buy used exercise machines.

Conclusion

Gyms and fitness centers are sometimes good places to buy used exercise machines.

Evidence

When they upgrade their machines, they sell their old ones used at reasonable prices. They've been used a bunch, but they are sturdier than normal home machines and they are usually well-maintained.

Evaluate

The language we need our principle to strengthen is that G's and FC's are sometimes good places to buy X.

Why? Because the prices are reasonable and the machines are sturdy and well-maintained.

Goal

If we're pre-phrasing a typical conditional answer, it would sound something like place gives reasonable price on X or can be place sells sturdier versions of X → good place or to buy X place sells well-maintained X's

If we're pre-phrasing a should-strengthener, then we want an answer saying that in buying used exercise machines, you should focus on reasonable price, well-made, or well-maintained.

If we're pre-phrasing a "weight the competing concerns" answer (since this argument did have competing interests), we'd want something like it's more important that it's reasonably priced / better built / well-maintained than that it's been used very little.

11.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the reasoning in the argument above?

  1. Any good source of used

    Backwards Logic

    This rule says: good source of used offers well-maintained exercise machines ? at reasonable prices That is showing us Conclusion ? Premise We are always looking for Premise ? Conclusion

    14% picked this

  2. The best kind of used

    Bad Premise Match

    This principle could potentially strengthen a conclusion about where to buy exercise machines, if the description it offered of the "best kind" matched what sort of inventory gyms and fitness centers are selling. However, the description didn't match. The machines at G's and FC's are not designed for home use. They were built better because they were intended (and used) for lots of use at a gym.

    2% picked this

  3. Correct

    Any place where one can

    Why this is right

    This answer correctly puts the premise language on the left and the conclusion language on the right. place where on can buy well maintained used ? good place to buy exercise machines at reasonable price I'm surprised LSAC was generous enough with this correct answer to still use the verbatim language of the conclusion. With a fuzzy claim like "sometimes a good place", this seemed like a ripe contender for the sort of correct answer that offers a strengthener, but not a conditional guarantee of the conclusion's wording. But happy surprise! In case we were bothered by the fact that this answer leaves out "better-built than home machines", remember that a correct answer is under no burden to use all the Premise facts we heard about. If we're trying to prove that Bob is a dork, and we learn facts X, Y, and Z about Bob, then any rule that gets us from X, Y, or Z (or any combination) to "is a dork" satisfies our purpose.

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

    79% picked this

  4. No place that sells only

    Bad Conclusion Match

    This rule allows you to prove that a place is not a good place to buy used exercise machines. We're only interested in a rule that would allow us to prove / strengthen that a place is a good place. Rules can only prove what's on the right side of the arrow. This one says: Place sells only exercise not a good machines designed for ? place to buy home use used machines

    2% picked this

  5. No good source of used

    Backwards Logic

    Just like (A), this rule goes from Conclusion language to Premise language, which is never what we want. Good source of used does not sell exercise machines ? poorly maintained equip at high price If we contraposed this, it would only allow us to prove that a place was not a good source of used exercise machines. You can only prove the ideas on the right side of the arrow.

    3% picked this

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