PT138.S4.Q21

PrepTest 138 - Section 4 - Question 21

Show summary

Each of the candidates in this year's mayoral election is a small-business owner. ████ ██████████████ ██████ ███ █████████ █████████ █████████ ██ █████████ ███████ █████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ██ █ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ██ █ ████ ██████

Method of Reasoning

The premises in this argument create a conditional chain, as shown below. Because all candidates are small business-owners, and most small-business owners are competent managers, and all competent managers have the necessary skills, the author concludes that most candidates have the necessary skills.

Identify and Describe Flaw

This argument rests on a misunderstanding of the quantifier “most.” Imagine there are 10 candidates for mayor, and there are 1,000 small-business owners. Let’s say 501 of the small-business owners are competent managers and therefore possess the necessary skills. That means there are 499 small-business owners who don’t possess the necessary skills. But remember, there are only 10 candidates for mayor! All 10 of those candidates could fall into the group of 499 small-business owners who lack the necessary skills.

Show answer
21.

The pattern of flawed reasoning ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████

a

Anyone who has ██████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██ █████ █ █████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ █ ████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ███████████ ██████████

b

Everything on the ████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ████████ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ██ █████████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ██ █████████

c

All the books ██ ████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ████ █████████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████ █ ████ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ████ █ ██████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ████ █ ██████

d

Each of the ███████████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ██ █████████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████████████

e

All of the ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █████

Confirm action

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