PT159.S4.P4.Q23

PrepTest 159 - Section 4 - Passage 4 - Question 23

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P1

The success of modern physics has consisted primarily in the analysis of physical reality into its fundamental components. ███ ███████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███████████ ████ █ ██████ █████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ████████████ ███████████ ████████████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ███ █████ ███████████████ ████ ████ ███ ██ █████ ███████ ████████████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████ █████████████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ █ ███████████ ███████ ██ █████████ █████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ███ ███ ███████████ ████ ████ ███ ███████

“Theory of everything” · Doesn’t predict behavior of complicated systems
Predicting this behavior requires knowing locations and trajectories of all particles into the future.
P2

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Problem of prediction · More difficult in chaotic systems
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Description of chaotic systems · Nonlinear rather than linear
In nonlinear systems, a minor difference at beginning of process results in large difference at the end. Example: water faucet opened wide.
P3

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Partly chaotic systems · Partly linear and partly chaotic
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Potential explanation for partly chaotic behavior · Complexity theory
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Potential application to living things · Complexity theory might help explain aspects of living things
Example: Cells involve both linearity and chaos.
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
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23.

The passage provides information that ████ ███████ ████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████

a

The behavior of █████████ █████████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ███████████ ████████████ ██ ██████ ████████

There's no evidence that particle behavior in complicated systems is governed by different laws from such behavior in simple systems. The only difference we know about between the two systems is that in complicated systems, small changes in starting conditions can lead to big changes in outcome. It's not clear that this can be characterized as a difference in governing laws.

26%
b

It is impossible ██ ██████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ █ ███████████ ███████

Not supported. The author believes we can't know the locations and trajectories of all particles for a significant time into the future. But the author might accept the possibility of knowing the locations of at least some particles for some time.

4%
c

A cell's behavior ██ ██████ ███████

Supported by the fact that cells are discussed as an example of the kind of system complexity theory might be able to explain.

47%
d

A change in █ ██████ ████████ █████ ████████ █████████ ████████

Actually, in linear systems, similar causes produce similar effects. So a change in a linear system's input wouldn't necessarily lead to dramatically different results; what matters is the magnitude of that change. It's also not clear that a result can be described as nonlinear. Systems or behavior can be linear or nonlinear; but the passage doesn't discuss results as having linearity or nonlinearity.

18%
e

Most linear systems ████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ █████████████ ███████████

The author doesn't comment on the relation between "most" (over half) linear systems and environmental conditions.

5%

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