Self-study
This passage was adapted from articles published in the 1990s.
P1
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Intro topic ·
Computer scientist Philip Emeagwali's inspiration and work on parallel computing
Describe Emeagwali's contribution ·
Developed parallel computing system to predict underground oil flow
Used network of many computers working simultaneously; solved speed and efficiency problems with traditional "sequential" computers
P2
Problem ·
Predicting oil flow requires many simultaneous calculations
Emeagwali's solution ·
Connect many individual computers over Internet to form huge parallel computer
New problem and solution ·
Properly dividing parallel tasks is hard; solution was to design computer network like tree branches
Tree branches follow very efficient patterns for collecting and moving resources; computer networks that follow the same underlying patterns are very efficient at generating and transmitting data
P3
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Emeagwali's future work ·
Parallel computing modeled after spacing of honeycombs
Emeagwali's perspective ·
Nature will become a more important source of inspiration for technical solutions
Passage Style
Single position
Spotlight
8.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Emeagwali's establishment of ███ █████████████ █████████ ███ ███████ ████████ ████████ ███████ ██ █████ █ ████ █████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ████ ██████████████ ██████ ██████
The author doesn’t indicate that Emeagwali has helped solve a “wide array of real-world problems that supercomputers cannot solve.” Rather, the passage discusses Emeagwali’s successful modeling of oil field flow. It also discusses Emeagwali’s predictions for future problems that can be solved. But we don’t get evidence Emeagwali has helped solve a “wide array” of problems.
b
Emeagwali has shown ████ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ██████████ █████████████ ████████ ████ █████ █████████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███████████
This doesn’t capture the passage’s focus on Emeagwali’s design of a parallel computing system. The main point isn’t about how Emeagwali shows us a broader point about paradigms and solutions. The main point is about Emeagwali and his achievements.
c
Emeagwali's discovery of ███ █████ ████████████ ██████████ ██████████ ███████ ███████ ███ ███ ██ █ ███████ ███ ██ ████████ ████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████████ █████████████ █████████
The passage never suggests that Emeagwali discovered the basic math principles underlying natural systems. His designs are based off of natural systems, but this doesn’t imply that he discovered basic math principles.
d
Emeagwali has designed ████████ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ██████████ █████████████ ████████ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███████████ ████████
This best captures the main point, which is that
e
The paradigm shift █████████ ██ ███████████ ████████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███████████
The main point is about Emeagwali’s achievements, not on what other scientists are more likely to do in the future. Although the passage does note that Emeagwali believes that scientists will increasingly look to nature for solutions to technological problems, Emeagwali’s belief isn’t the overall point of the passage.