Logical Reasoning

PT8 · S1 · Q5 A person can develop or outgrow

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A person can develop or outgrow asthma at any age.

Conclusion (assigned by question stem)

The number of adolescent boys w/ asthma is about the same as the number of adolescent girls w/ asthma.

Evidence

By adolescence, the % of boys with asthma is about the same as the % of girls with asthma.

Evaluate

Well, it's a pretty straightforward % vs. # issue, once we sort through all the fluff and understand our task.

We know the % of adolescent boys with asthma is the same as girls, but we're trying to prove that the # is the same.

How do you make the same PERCENT come out to the same NUMBER?

The percents need to be applied to the same total.

Let's say both of us donate 10% of our salary to charity each month. Do we donate the same dollar amount to charity each month? No, unless we make the same salary, in which case, yes.

Goal

We just need to know the number of adolescent boys is the same as the number of adolescent girls.

That way, if the same % of them has asthma, it'll also mean that the same number of them have asthma.

5.

Assuming the truth of the passage, one can conclude from it that the number of adolescent boys with asthma is approximately equal to the number of adolescent girls with asthma, if one also knows that

  1. a tendency toward asthma is

    Unrelated to Goal

    There's nothing to say about wrong answers here, other than, "If they don't tell me number of boys = number of girls, then they don't prove the conclusion". We already know the % is the same. We need to prove the # is the same. The only idea that does that is learning that population size of each group is the same. This has nothing to do with comparing their population sizes.

    2% picked this

  2. children who develop asthma before

    Unrelated to Goal

    There's nothing to say about wrong answers here, other than, "If they don't tell me number of boys = number of girls, then they don't prove the conclusion". We already know the % is the same. We need to prove the # is the same. The only idea that does that is learning that population size of each group is the same. This has nothing to do with comparing their population sizes.

    9% picked this

  3. Correct

    there are approximately equal numbers

    Why this is right

    We already know the % of adolescent boys/girls who have asthma is the same. Let's pretend it's 10% of boys and 10% of girls. If we also know that the number of adolescent boys is the same as that of girls, then taking 10% of each group will yield the same number. Thus, we can conclude that the number of adolescent boys with asthma is the same as that for adolescent girls.

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

    78% picked this

  4. the development of asthma in

    Unrelated to Goal

    There's nothing to say about wrong answers here, other than, "If they don't tell me number of boys = number of girls, then they don't prove the conclusion". We already know the % is the same. We need to prove the # is the same. The only idea that does that is learning that population size of each group is the same. This has nothing to do with comparing their population sizes.

    4% picked this

  5. the percentage of adults with

    Unrelated to Goal

    There's nothing to say about wrong answers here, other than, "If they don't tell me number of boys = number of girls, then they don't prove the conclusion", although in this case we could also say ... as soon as we see adults, we can move on. We don't care in the slightest about adults or any other non-adolescents.

    7% picked this

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