No mathematician today would flatly refuse

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsMust be True

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Stimulus

No mathematician today would flatly refuse to accept the results of an enormous computation as an adequate demonstration of the truth of a theorem. In 1976, however, this was not the case. Some mathematicians at that time refused to accept the results of a complex computer demonstration of a very simple mapping short, simple proof, in fact, some simple theorems have required enormous proofs.

What this question is testing

Must be True

Your task

Break the argument into its conclusion and evidence, then do exactly what the question stem asks with that structure.

Common trap

Answers that sound relevant to the topic but don't connect to the argument's actual reasoning.

Winning move

Predict what a right answer must do, then test each choice against the conclusion-evidence gap.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question

12.

If all of the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following must

Answer choices

Correct74% picked this
Today, some mathematicians who believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof would consider accepting the results of an enormous computation
Why this is right
Answer A is correct.
Skill tested: Must be True · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
74%
Trap1% picked this
Some individuals who believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof
1%
Trap15% picked this
Today, some individuals who refuse to accept the results of an enormous computation as a demonstration of the truth of a theorem believe that
15%
Trap8% picked this
Some individuals who do not believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof would not be willing to accept the results
8%
Trap2% picked this
Some nonmathematicians do not believe that a simple theorem ought to have
2%

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