PT83.S3.Q23 - Each new car in a lot at Rollway Motors

Rev_LefeRev_Lefe Member
edited April 2021 in Logical Reasoning 385 karma

D- "No apartment above the fourth floor of the building has more than two bedrooms. But only three-bedroom apartments have balconies. Thus, if any apartments in the building has a balcony, it is on the fourth floor or lower."

I checked some other forums' explanation which all said it's a contrapositive. But isn't there a mismatch between a singular and a plural form?

Could someone please help explain? Thanks.

Admin Note: https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-83-section-3-question-23/

Comments

  • mnkimmnkim Member
    137 karma

    Any apartment that has more than two bedrooms is not above the fourth floor (contrapositive). Hence, any three-bedroom apartment is not above the fourth floor. Only three-bedroom apartments have balconies. Hence, the only apartments with balconies is not above the fourth floor.

    Could you clarify which part you found there to be a mismatch in singular and plural?

  • Rev_LefeRev_Lefe Member
    385 karma

    Thanks for the response, mnkim. My issue is the conclusion is about any apartment with "a balcony". But this can't trigger the sufficient condition in the second premise, which states "only three-bedroom apartments have balconies. "

  • mnkimmnkim Member
    137 karma

    Oh, I see what you are talking about. That's a good catch. It really all comes down to whether you interpret "Only three-bedroom apartments have balconies" as "Only three-bedroom apartments have multiple balconies" or as "Only three-bedroom apartments, as a collective, have balconies (in total, regardless of the distribution)". I believe due to the ambiguity, it's possible to interpret it as either - I do feel that at a colloquial level, latter is more common. In the latter interpretation, the contrapositive would hold, whereas in the former it would not. It would help to resolve the ambiguity if it is the nature of a balcony such that there typically is only one per apartment. Phrases like "These people have families" or "People with high IQs" imply one IQ per person and, for most cultures, one family per person. But technically, I think there is an ambiguity here that allows it to be interpreted as having "Only three-bedroom apartments have multiple balconies".

  • Rev_LefeRev_Lefe Member
    385 karma

    Thanks, mnkim. It makes a lot of sense! I actually did ask myself "can an apartment have more than one balconies?" when reading the sentence. "I am not a real estate agent so I am going with what is literal" I thought to myself. I hope that LSAC won't use this ambiguity to design a stimulus.

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