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This is a weird-ass question task. There isn't any argument to pick apart. They just want us to pick an answer that logically guarantees that Seclee has at least as many trees as Martown.
There are lots of different sentences we could come up with to prove that, so there's no way to guess. Let's just start checking answers.
From which one of the following does the conclusion logically follow?
More trees were planted in
This only speaks to how many trees were planted in the past two years. It wouldn't give us a way to prove that the total number of trees in one area is at least as great as the total number of trees in the other area.
8% picked this
Seclee is the region within
Why this is right
This proves the claim by making Martown a subset of Seclee. Los Angeles is a subset of California, so if you put 20 trees in LA, then you have at least 20 trees in California. Every tree in Martown is by definition also a tree that in Seclee. So Seclee has to have at least as many trees. If there are other cities besides Martown that are within the region of Seclee (and those other cities also have trees), then Seclee is guaranteed to have more trees than Martown. If Martown is the only city within the region of Seclee, and all of Seclee's trees are found within Martown, then Seclee is guaranteed to have the same number of trees as Martown. Either way you slice it, Seclee as at least as many as Martown.
Skill tested: Sufficient Assumption · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
80% picked this
Martown is suffering from an
The fact that Martown might be losing trees from a virus doesn't guarantee that Seclee has at least as many trees. Seclee might have zero trees!
1% picked this
The average annual rainfall for
We know that rain helps facilitate the existence of trees, but it doesn't guarantee the existence of trees. The fact that one area gets more rain than another does not prove the former area has a higher number of trees. Maybe no trees have been planted in Seclee. Maybe other climate conditions (cold / wind) make it hard for trees to grow there. Maybe Seclee only has a small number of giant trees while Martown has a large number of tiny trees. There's no way that rainfall by itself can prove a quantity of trees.
1% picked this
The average number of trees
This still is miles away from proving total number of trees in one area is at least as big as those in the other area. Martown could be starting from 1 billion trees while Seclee is starting with 20 trees. It doesn't matter that Martown cuts down 100 trees a year while Seclee only cuts down 2 trees a year. Martown could still have way more trees than Seclee.
9% picked this
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