#21 - If this parking policy is unpopular with the faculty

[est15]

I diagrammed the first two sentences as follows:

parking policy unpopular with faculty -> modify
parking policy unpopular with students -> adopt

But then I ran into uncertainty with the third sentence that prevented me from getting the question right. If a sentence contains A either/or B does that prevent A and B from occurring together? i.e. A must occur or B must occur but both can't occur at the same time?

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi est15,

Thanks for your question. Your diagram of the first two sentences is correct:

Unpopular with faculty Modify policy
Unpopular with students Adopt a new policy

The third sentence is key: the policy is bound to be unpopular either with the faculty or with the students. Logically speaking, an "either...or" construct does not preclude the possibility of both things happening, and so it is possible that the parking policy is unpopular with both students and faculty. However, it must be unpopular with at least one of these two constituencies. So, if the policy is not unpopular (i.e. if it's popular) with students, then it must be unpopular with faculty, and vice versa:

Popular with students Unpopular with faculty
Popular with faculty Unpopular with students

In general:

Either A or B

is equivalent in meaning to:

NOT A B
NOT B A

The rule does not prohibit the possibility of both A and B occurring (for that to be the case, test-makers must specify "either A or B, but not both"), but it forces at least one of them to occur.

Does that make sense? Let me know.

Thanks!

[Johnclem]

Hello,
I had trouble diagraming the last statement of this problem . I think it translates to at least one. But I am not sure if that means the sufficient or else the necessary gets negated. If you could please show me the difference I would appreciate.
Here is my attempt :

1) ~ popular with faculty --> modify

2) ~ not popular with students ---> new policy

3) ~popular with factuality ---> popular with students
~ popular with students ----> popluar with faculty


Thanks !
John

[Adam Tyson]

I think your diagrams of 1 and 2 look good, John, except for what I assume to be a typo in your second premise (you show it as a double-negative, ~not popular, and I am guessing you meant that to be just ~popular). Diagram 3, however, appears to be backwards. The stimulus tells us that the policy is bound to be unpopular with at least one of those two groups. So, if it is popular with one, it is bound to be unpopular with the other. You've got it as if unpopular with one, then popular with the other. It could very well be unpopular with both!

Once you fix the diagram of the third premise, you could then expand on it by adding the first two premises to the chains, like this:

PS (popular with students) PF (not popular with faculty) Modify

PF PS New Policy

That last one should get you answer choice E, which is the correct answer!

Hope that helped!

[sherrilynm]

Can someone walk me though this question? I am completely and utterly lost.

[Malila Robinson]

Hi Sherri,
You can diagram out each sentence for clarity using sufficient & necessary diagrams (If --> Then)
1. (If) Unpopular with faculty ---> (Then) Modify
2. (If) Unpopular with students ---> (Then) Adopt new policy
3. (If) Popular with faculty ---> (Then) Unpopular with students (which would mean you should adopt a new policy)
(If) Popular with students ---> (Then) Unpopular with faculty (which means you should modify the policy)

This leads to answer choice E as the correct answer.
Hope this helps,
Malila

[sherrilynm]

Thanks Malila, that helps a lot!

[theamazingrace]

Is answer choice A wrong because like mentioned it does not have to be popular with either it can be unpopular with both, it must instead be unpopular with at least one.

Answer B is wrong for a similar reason. In this case, because we don't have to modify the parking policy only if it will not reduce its popularity among students because the policy can be unpopular with both faculty and students.

Is this correct?

Thanks!

[Robert Carroll]

Grace,

The last sentence proves that the policy must be unpopular with some group, and nothing in the stimulus indicates we should change anyone's mind about it. All we "should" do is modify the policy or adopt a new one, under the conditions given in the first and second sentences. Changing people's minds is not contemplated by the stimulus.

Answer choice (B) discusses reducing the popularity, which is nowhere mentioned in the stimulus.

Robert Carroll