Section Types Logical Reasoning

There are 1.3 billion cows worldwide, and this population is growing to keep pace with the demand for meat and milk. These cows produce trillions of liters of methane gas yearly, and this methane contributes to global warming. The majority of the world’s cows are given relatively low-quality diets even though cows produce less methane when they receive better-quality diets. Therefore, methane production from cows could be kept in check if cows were given better-quality diets.

Summarize Argument

The amount of methane released because of cows would be reduced if they had better diets. This is because good diets make them produce less methane.

Notable Assumptions

The author assumes that giving cows healthier diets doesn’t have an undesirable consequence, such as causing them to produce less meat or milk. This may make it necessary to have more cows to compensate for decreased production per cow, thus potentially increasing methane production.

A

Cows given good-quality diets produce much more meat and milk than they would produce otherwise.

This strengthens the argument by reinforcing the assumption that feeding cows better diets would not limit their production of meat or milk. (A) says cows would produce less methane but even more milk and meat.

B

Carbon and hydrogen, the elements that make up methane, are found in abundance in the components of all types of cow feed.

This does not affect the argument. Cow feed having carbon and hydrogen doesn’t mean anything for our argument, as we know that healthier feed makes them produce less methane.

C

Most farmers would be willing to give their cows high-quality feed if the cost of that feed were lower.

This does not affect the argument. The conclusion is not about whether farmers should or could give their cows healthier diets. The conclusion is about what would happen if they did.

D

Worldwide, more methane is produced by cows raised for meat production than by those raised for milk production.

This does not affect the argument. The conclusion is still valid—regardless of which cows produce more methane, all cows’ methane production would decrease if given healthy diets.

E

Per liter, methane contributes more to global warming than does carbon dioxide, a gas that is thought to be the most significant contributor to global warming.

This does not affect the argument, which is solely about methane. The conclusion that methane production would decrease is not impacted by whether methane or carbon dioxide contributes more to global warming.

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LSAT 125 - Section 2 - Question 25

April 21, 2012

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