PT7.S4.Q15 - The consistency of ice cream is adversely affected...

HopefullyHLS

help

So, I've chosen B, both under timed conditions and blind review. Below is my reasoning:

B: If I am more willing to sacrifice consistency than to sacrifice flavor, I am more willing to refrain from buying stabilizers and keeping temperatures low (therefore energy costs up), thereby saving costs. Therefore, cost considerations indeed favor sacrificing consistency over sacrificing flavor.

Why is B wrong?

Moreover, I am not fully convinced that E is correct. It's clear that stable temperatures (no matter whether they are very low or not, stable means to me that there are no temperature changes which adversely affect the consistency) allow for the best possible consistency. But how do we know that very low, stable temperatures allow for the best possible flavour? We are not told anything about the relation between flavour and temperature (it could be the case that lower temperatures have adverse effects on flavour).

Maybe I'm overthinking it with E though, the process of written expression of my thoughts actually almost convinced me that E sounds logical. The question I'm concerned the most with is why B is wrong.

madman404

In many logical reasoning questions, I often find myself returning to the same logic in my answers: how much information do I need to abstract from the question to reach this conclusion? Given that I'm sure you've already figured out why the other choices are incorrect, I will focus exclusively on B and E.

First, let's talk about why B is wrong. Look over the passage carefully. If it helps, split the paragraph into a bulleted list made only of statements of fact. Notice that B is in fact saying the opposite of what the passage tells us. A manufacturer chooses stabilizers, a low cost option, at the expense of flavor. This means when minimizing costs, manufacturers prefer consistency to flavor. B says the opposite of this and therefore cannot be correct.

Take it a step further, though - let's say B in fact did match the logic we could possibly infer from the paragraph. It would still be incorrect. Despite the fact that we can make a decently logical estimate in favor of this hypothetical B, the fact remains that we don't actually have enough information. We don't know if companies choose stabilizers because consumers prefer consistency, if it's the only option they can afford at all, or otherwise. In choosing our hypothetical B, we assume one of many possibilities.

Compare this to E. E uses only information directly in the paragraph. Nothing is assumed besides "ice cream should be cold", which is such a basic fact of life you are expected by the test creators to know it. As a result, E is the most direct, correct inference of all the choices and must be the correct answer.

I hope this helps.