PT35.S4.Q23 - older wiser tree ring

Lsatkayy

This question is a “similar reasoning question”. It says “ the higher the altitude, the thinner the air. Since Mexico City’s altitude is higher than that of Panama City, the air must be thinner in Mexico City than in Panama City.” I have looked at the right answer but I am confused as to why one of the wrong answers (a) is incorrect. It says “as one gets older one gets wiser. Since Henrietta is older than her daughter, Henrietta must be wiser than her daughter”.

This to me is an attractive wrong answer. If it was posed as “the older you get, the wiser you are...” would that have made it right?

https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-35-section-4-question-23/

thisissparta

Doubt either version of AC (A) would be right. The difference between (A) and (D) is subtle - (A) is wrong because it has the potency to be borne out of anecdotal evidence, while (D), like the stimulus, is scientific fact.

Unless (A) would be phrased in a way which makes it a universal truth, I don't see any rephrasing of that statement that could make it a perfectly parallel argument.

Lsatkayy

@thisissparta said:
Doubt either version of AC (A) would be right. The difference between (A) and (D) is subtle - (A) is wrong because it has the potency to be borne out of anecdotal evidence, while (D), like the stimulus, is scientific fact.

Unless (A) would be phrased in a way which makes it a universal truth, I don't see any rephrasing of that statement that could make it a perfectly parallel argument.

I just had an epiphany. If the answer was that Henrietta is older than she was last year therefore she’s wiser than she was last year, the answer would be right. Correct?

thisissparta

@Lsatkayy said:

@thisissparta said:
Doubt either version of AC (A) would be right. The difference between (A) and (D) is subtle - (A) is wrong because it has the potency to be borne out of anecdotal evidence, while (D), like the stimulus, is scientific fact.

Unless (A) would be phrased in a way which makes it a universal truth, I don't see any rephrasing of that statement that could make it a perfectly parallel argument.

I just had an epiphany. If the answer was that Henrietta is older than she was last year therefore she’s wiser than she was last year, the answer would be right. Correct?

The subtleties become harder to spot in tougher parallel reasoning questions.

The primary reason why (A) is the wrong choice is the correlation that is drawn in the first sentence (between age and wisdom). The correlation is not perfectly parallel with the correlation between air density and altitude in the stimulus. The latter is a scientific fact - a universal phenomenon. The former, potentially anecdotal evidence.

If AC (A) were reworded the way you've reworded it, it'd still be incorrect because the difference in the correlate's being used (age and wisdom vs. altitude and air density) would still exist.

Again, just to be clear: unless we can confirm that an increase in age implies more wisdom as a universally true phenomenon, AC (A), in the presence, of AC (D), would be the less preferable AC.

Lsatkayy

Ahhhh okay that makes sense. Thanks!

thisissparta

@Lsatkayy said:
Ahhhh okay that makes sense. Thanks!

You're welcome!