Logical Reasoning

PT16 · S2 · Q11 If the needle on an industrial

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If the needle on an industrial sewing machine becomes badly worn, the article being sewn can be ruined.

Facts

causal Worn out needle >> ruin the garment

pivot (however) We're going to get rid of the people who monitor worn our needles and replace them with a new acoustic device that detects worn needles.

Evidence

If we're able to detect worn needles with an acoustic device, that must mean that a worn needle gives off a telltale sound that lets you know it's worn.

I guess we could infer that the people who used to monitor the needles were able to hear this sound difference (although that's a bit speculative, because they might have just visually inspected each needle).

Goal

Hard to know where this is going, but will probably relate to the sound of a worn needle. We just want the most provable answer.

11.

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

In automated apparel factories, items
Unsupported
We don't know whether the new acoustic device will be better, worse, or comparable to the old human monitors, so we can't judge whether there will be any change in ruined garments.
13% picked this
In the automated apparel factories
Too Strong
This answer is way too broad and strong to be provable from what we read about sewing factories. Plus, the stimulus seems to say the opposite. The stimulus says it would be inefficient to hire someone just for needle monitoring. So it sounds like they don't want to hire an employee who only does one task.
3% picked this
Traditional apparel factories do not
Too Strong
The stimulus says industrial sewing is becoming "increasingly automated," which leaves room for traditional factories to use some automated equipment. The stimulus does not say traditional factories use no automation at all.
9% picked this
Correct
The needles of industrial sewing
Why this is right
This is a sneaky inference that goes beyond the telltale sound of a worn needle and gets to the heart of why we need a human or a machine to monitor things in the first place: we don't know when a needle is going to wear out! If we knew that they wore out at a predictable rate, like every three months, then we'd just put a sticker on the sewing machine (like the sticker on your windshield after you get an oil change) that says "change needle on March 4". The fact that we need a human or acoustic device to "figure out" when a needle is wearing out means it's not something we can predict in advance. We have to see how it goes.
Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
59% picked this
As sewing machine needles become
Unsupported
Ouch, what a mean trap answer. Many of us were probably looking for an answer talking about the telltale sound of a worn needle. But the telltale sound doesn't have to be that it gets louder. If it got noticeably quieter, that would also tell a human monitor / acoustic device that something was awry. It could also stay the same volume but change in pitch, etc. It needs to have a telltale sound difference when the needle is worn, but we can't prove that the telltale difference is increased volume.
16% picked this

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