#6 - The distance that animals travel each day and the size

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (E)

This stimulus consists of related information that infers a definite conclusion. If the distance animals travel and the size of the groups in which they travel is correlated with their diets, and diet depends on the sizes and shapes of teeth and faces, we know that the shapes and sizes of teeth and faces should be somewhat correlated with the mentioned distance and group size.

Answer choice (A): Since the stimulus does not give any information as to what type of diet would indicate a far-ranging animal, this choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (B): The stimulus does not indicate what kind of diet would indicate a larger animal. This choice is not supported by the stimulus, and is wrong.

Answer choice (C): The stimulus contains absolutely no information that discusses behavior within a herd, and this response is incorrect. The stimulus establishes a relationship between teeth and the general type of animal, not between teeth and the specific behavior of one animal.

Answer choice (D): The stimulus establishes that certain teeth and faces are necessary for certain diets, not that those teeth and faces were sufficient to establish anything. On the broad level, that makes this choice wrong. Specifically, the stimulus never discussed species, only general behavior, so this answer choice is also entirely off-topic.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. The stimulus infers that teeth and faces are correlated with group size and travel. This answer choice correctly refers to group size by discussing "herds." If you eliminated this choice on the grounds that the stimulus does not discuss herds, you should remember that the correct answer choice is allowed to reference the stimulus using different phrasings and word choices, and "herd" is definitely an acceptable reference to the discussion of group size.

[ellenb]

Dear Powerscore,

In this answer it says that

D) Species--->info about an animal's size and shape face

(in the explanation it says that animal's size and shape is sufficient, however it is not sufficient it is also necessary) as well as it is necessary in the statement, I know it is wrong for other reasons; however, if other reasons were not there such as (talking about species when species never were mentioned) will it still be correct? let's say if we had diet-->animal's shape and size of face (I just want to make sure I diagramed it correctly ) and am not mistaken the sufficent with necessary.


In the statement:

diet--->animal's shape and size of teeth and face (it is also necessary) so why is it saying in the answer that in the stimulus it sufficient

Please clarify,

Thanks

Ellen

[Justin Eleff]

I am not entirely sure that I understand everything you mean to be asking. But if the question is whether answer choice (D) can be diagrammed EITHER as ...

(1) know which species an animal is --> have info about its face

... OR ...

(2) have info about an animal's face --> know which species it is

... the answer is (2) only.

This is because the phrase "all that is needed" indicates a SUFFICIENT condition, not a NECESSARY one. Think of this just in terms of the scenario we have here: (D) tells us info about the face is "all that is needed" to identify the species. This obviously means that if we indeed have info about the face, we will be able to identify the species -- but consider the reverse.

We have no info about the face. Can we still identify the species? Think of an animal that walks upright, has the ability to reason and is typing the answer you're reading right now. You just identified my species without any information about faces at all.

So you have to remember that "all that is needed" indicates a sufficient condition, even though the word "needed" by itself would indicate a necessary condition. This is much like the list of conditional indicators you'll see on page 2-7, in the following sense: "if" is a sufficient condition indicator, but "only if" is a necessary condition indicator. You can't pull the word "if" out of "only if" and call it sufficient, just like you can't pull the word "needed" out of "all that is needed" and call it necessary.

Otherwise you're right: the fatal flaw here is that answer choice (D) goes much farther than the stimulus does, introducing this entirely new element of being able to identify an animal's species -- not just the distance it travels, or whether it lives alone or in herds, or what it eats. So it's wrong for that reason, too. (E) is the right answer. If we know about the face, the stimulus tells us we can (probably) figure out the diet, and thus can (probably) figure out the distance the animal travels and the size of the group (if any) in which it lives.

Hope this helped.

[ellenb]

Dear Powerscore,

I was just curious for this question whether I have understood the concept correctly.


Distance
and correlate w/diets ------> shape of teeth and face
Size of Groups

so if we have:

A correlates w/B ---------> C
then is it safe to assume that

A correlates w/C?

Thanks

Ellen

[Steve Stein]

Hi Ellen,

Thanks for your question. It seems that you have the basic concept. If diet and group size correlate with diet, and diet is shaped by the shape of an animal's face and teeth, then that supports the notion provided by the correct answer choice E: based on the shape of an animal's face and teeth we can establish whether that animal was likely to travel in a herd. (Note the use of the term likely, which keeps this answer choice from being too strongly worded).

I hope that's helpful--please let me know whether that clears this one up--thanks!

~Steve

[ellenb]

So the above example with A, B, and C is correct?

Thanks

Ellen

[Steve Stein]

Hi Ellen,

In your diagram, is the arrow intended to represent a conditional relationship?

Let me know--thanks!

~Steve

[ellenb]

Yep, thanks

[Steve Stein]

Hi Ellen,

Thanks for your response--what is represented in your diagram by the following?

Correlate with diet ---> shape of face/teeth

Let me know--thanks!

~Steve

[ellenb]

i had the following:

Distance
and correlate w/diets ------> shape of teeth and face
Size of Groups


Distance and Size of Groups correlates with diet, then diet depends on the sizes and shapes of animal's teeth and faces. (creating a sufficient and necessary condition)

Does that make more sense what the arrow means?

Thanks Steve