#22 - The only preexisting recordings that are transferred

[NickSabanIsGod]

Hello,

I understand why you need the assumption "if not played on the radio then no profit" but I am having an issue understanding why E is diagrammed this way.

Would you be able to explain this? the wording "No recording that is not played on the radio" in (E) is throwing me off. The use of "No" and "not" so close together are making this difficult.

Thanks

[Kristina Moen]

Hello,

This question is a Justify question, which is very different from an Assumption question. Be careful - the answer choice is not something that the argument "needs." It is something that fills in the gap between the premise(s) and the conclusion. You approach these question types very differently!

Because the stimulus contains conditional reasoning, I'll start by diagramming it. It sounds like you understand why Answer Choice (E) is correct, but I will explain this for other test takers as well.
"The only preexisting recordings that are transferred onto compact disc are those that record companies believe will sell well enough on compact disc to be profitable." The word only is a Necessary Condition Indicator, but it is actually modifying the second part of that sentence. For example, "the only people who go to law school are people who took the LSAT" means that taking the LSAT is necessary for going to law school.

P1: Transferred to CD -> Company believes will sell enough to be profitable
P2: Few classic jazz played on radio
Conclusion: Most classic jazz not transferred to CD.

With a Justify question, look for the missing pieces. Here, premise 1 talks about being profitable, and premise 2 talks about being played on the radio. What you want is to get to the conclusion that classic jazz is not transferred to CD. So if you take the contrapositive of the first premise, you get:
Company does not believe will sell well enough to be profitable -> Not transferred to CD.

You want to get an answer choice that basically links profit to radio. So something that says:
Not played on radio -> Company does not believe will sell well enough to be profitable.

That's Answer Choice (E): "No recording that is not played on the radio is one that record companies believe would be profitable if transferred to compact disc."

The word "No" modifies the second part of this sentence, just like "only" modified the second part of the sentence "The only people who go to law school are people who took the LSAT." You might also think of another example - "No people who eat cheese are lactose intolerant." The word "no" modifies the second part of the sentence, which then becomes "People who eat cheese are not lactose intolerant." So what you get with Answer Choice (E) is:
Not played on the radio -> Record company do NOT believe would be profitable. Bingo!