A certain type of insect trap uses

Answer choices

1. A

   No Distinction3% picked this

   The scent of a single trap’s lure usually cannot be detected throughout a backyard garden

   If a single lure cannot reach all beetles in the garden, that suggests one trap should attract fewer beetles than several traps would — but it does not explain why a single trap increases the population. If the lure does not reach distant beetles, those beetles should be unaffected, not multiplied. This does not resolve the paradox.

   3%
2. B

   Restates Paradox10% picked this

   Several traps are better able to catch a large number of rose beetles than is one trap alone, since any rose beetles that evade

   This just confirms that several traps catch more beetles than one trap does — which is part of what we already knew, since several traps reduce the population while one increases it. It does not explain why one trap actively makes things worse. Catching fewer is not the same as causing an increase.

   10%
3. C

   Cheats Paradox1% picked this

   When there are several traps in a garden, they each capture fewer rose beetles than any single trap would if it were

   If anything, this deepens the puzzle. If each of several traps catches fewer beetles than a lone trap would, then a single trap must be efficient at capture. So why does that efficient single trap leave the garden with more beetles? This answer makes the one-trap problem harder to explain, not easier.

   1%
4. D

   Correct69% picked this

   The presence of any traps in a backyard garden will attract more rose beetles than one trap can catch, but several traps will not

   Why this is right

   This is the explanation. The lure attracts more beetles than one trap can capture — meaning one trap pulls in beetles from outside the garden but cannot catch them all, leaving the surplus loose in the garden. Several traps will not attract significantly more beetles than one trap (the lure's drawing power is roughly fixed), but they provide enough capture capacity to actually catch the beetles that get drawn in. So adding traps does not multiply the attraction; it multiplies the capture. Result: with one trap, attraction outpaces capture and the population rises; with several, capture catches up and the population falls.

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

   69%
5. E

   No Distinction16% picked this

   When there is only one trap in the garden, the plastic bag quickly becomes filled to capacity, allowing

   Even if one trap's bag fills up and lets some beetles escape, those escapees were beetles that had already been in the garden (they were attracted by the lure but not held by the bag). This explains why a single trap might be less effective than expected, but it does not explain why the population rises beyond what it would have been with no trap. The increase needs an outside source of beetles — namely, beetles attracted in by the lure from outside the garden.

   16%