PT117.S3.Q22

PrepTest 117 - Section 3 - Question 22

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Support Most people who shop for groceries no more than three times a month buy prepared frozen dinners regularly. ██ █████████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ████ █████ █████ █ ██████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████ ██████████

Method of Reasoning

As shown below, this argument uses a chain of conditional claims, linked by the quantifier “most”, to conclude that most people in Hallstown regularly buy prepared frozen dinners.

Identify and Describe Flaw

The flaw in this argument stems from an incorrect understanding of the quantifier “most”. The argument relies on an invalid argument form: we cannot conclude that most people in Hallstown buy frozen dinners regularly just because most people in Hallstown don’t shop more than 3 times a month and most people in the world who don’t shop more than 3 times a month buy frozen dinners! Let’s say there are 100 people in Hallstown, and 51 of them don’t shop more than 3 times a month. At the same time, there are 1000 people in the world who don’t shop more than 3 times a month (51 of whom live in Hallstown), and 501 of them buy frozen dinners regularly. All 51 of the Hallstown residents could belong to the group of 499 people who don’t shop more than 3 times a month, but also don’t regularly buy frozen dinners!

Show answer
22.

Which one of the following █████████ ███ █ ██████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████

a

It is clear ████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ███████ █████ █████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ████ █████████ █████ ███ ███ ████████

b

It is clear ████ ████ ██████ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ███ ███ █ ███ ███ ██ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ███ █ ███ ███ ██████

c

It is clear ████ ██████████ ███████ ███████ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ███████

d

It is clear ████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████ █████ ███████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████ ███████ ██ █████

e

It is clear ████ ████ ██ ████████ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ █████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████

Confirm action

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