what is the % range of the negation of "few"

_oshun1__oshun1_ Alum Member
edited February 2018 in Logical Reasoning 3652 karma

I know there are a few other threads like this but I didn't see a very concise answer
I understand that few means some, most are not
A <-s-> B
and A --m-> /B
This is 1-49%

The negation would be all...not,
A --> /B (not 100%)

& it is not the case that (A --m-> /B)
- can this be written out as A --m-> B ?

It doesn't seem like with all cases of negation you can just pop off the / and call it a negation so I just want to double check

  • Also, does the negation of few mean 51-99%? Most are (51-100%), and all are not (not 100%)

Comments

  • Seeking PerfectionSeeking Perfection Alum Member
    4423 karma

    If few means 1-49 percent, it seems to me that not few should mean either 0 or 50-100 percent.

    Negating few means that we can't have few. If we have 0, there are not few. If we have 100 percent there are not few. And if we have 51 percent there are not few.

    A few can have the definition two or three two, but I take JYs word that isn't what it means for the LSAT. If it was though, its negation would just be 0 or 4 and higher.

    The general idea of a negation is that we are taking all possibilities and eliminating just those referred to by whatever we are negating.

  • AudaciousRedAudaciousRed Alum Member
    2689 karma

    Since JY says Few is "most are not", and I would think the opposite would be: Most are. So, the opposite of few = most, with "none" also being a possibility.

  • _oshun1__oshun1_ Alum Member
    3652 karma

    @xadrianas6x @"Seeking Perfection" thank you I understand it now!

  • Cant Get RightCant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage 🍌 7Sage Tutor
    27809 karma

    For me, "few" is ultimately indeterminate. It can be subjective, meaning different things to different people in different contexts. Unlike something like "most" which you can actually nail down (50% + 1), it just doesn't have a strict logical interpretation. For purposes of the LSAT, I tend to just interpret it as "some."

  • SamiSami Live Member Sage 7Sage Tutor
    10774 karma

    @"surfy surf" said:
    I know there are a few other threads like this but I didn't see a very concise answer
    I understand that few means some, most are not
    A <-s-> B
    and A --m-> /B
    This is 1-49%

    The negation would be all...not,
    A --> /B (not 100%)

    & it is not the case that (A --m-> /B)
    - can this be written out as A --m-> B ?

    It doesn't seem like with all cases of negation you can just pop off the / and call it a negation so I just want to double check

    • Also, does the negation of few mean 51-99%? Most are (51-100%), and all are not (not 100%)

    If I do not know if the group is smaller than 30 people, I like to substitute few for about 7 people.

    On LSAT I have never needed to draw few out. I just feel like its a concept thats helpful to understand. They usually mention few in answer choices about a study or in the stimulus itself. So I find substituting 7 people helps put things in perspective.

    For example, if the stimulus was concluding that smoking causes cancer and our task is to weaken it. An answer choice saying that in a new study there were few (7) people who smoked but did not get cancer does not provide enough support to weaken our conclusion. We need more than few or 7 people to disprove that link.

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