HELP - Sufficiency-Necessity

maygh444maygh444 Core Member
in Logical Reasoning 15 karma

Hello! I appear to hard time with sufficient and necessary which is leading to me applying them wrong in lawgic and getting the quiz questions backwards. Can someone please help in dumbing it down? I went back to review but somehow confused myself even more and might just be overthinking it now. I would appreciate any help.

Comments

  • LSATinatorLSATinator Alum Member
    103 karma

    This analogy may help: think of a big circle with a smaller circle occupying a subset in the big circle. Take the big circle to be all mammals and the smaller circle to be all cats. We see here that to be a cat it is necessary for you to be a mammal because if you are in the smaller circle, you are surely in the big circle. In the same vein, if you are not a mammal you are not a cat. However, just being a mammal is not sufficient for being a cat. The smaller circle of cats is only a subset in the big circle, and you can be a mammal and not a cat (for example a dog). Hope this helps.

  • tjtate16tjtate16 Alum Member
    10 karma

    In terms of process of elimination, the answer for sufficient assumption will typically have stronger/more extreme language, whereas the answer for necessary assumption will be weaker. Also, sufficient assumption arguments will always have a language shift which can help guide you to the right answer. Language shifts are something new mentioned in the conclusion that wasn't mentioned elsewhere, and you need to find a "bridge" answer choice that connects that new idea to one of the previously mentioned premises. Necessary assumptions might have a language shift, but they don't always. Hope this helps

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