#6 - Astronomer: This country's space agency is currently

[Administrator]

Please post below with any questions!

[bli2016]

I think I got this one wrong because I read answer choice A (the one I chose) incorrectly. Specifically, when I read the part about the money already spent being small relative to the agency's overall budget, I thought it referred to the agency's budget for the project. Is this distinction the key to eliminating A? Would it have been correct if the answer choice said "agency's overall budget for the project" as opposed to "overall budget"? Thanks

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, bli2016.

Good question! Let's set aside the (A) for a moment and discuss our analysis and prephrase. The argument proceeds as follows:

• P1: The telescope under construction is way over budget.
• P2: If we cancel the telescope now, all the money already spent (more than the remaining cost) will have been wasted.
• Conclusion: We should not cancel the telescope.

The task is to frame a principle that strengthens this reasoning. To make a good prephrase, we should be clear on the connection we wish to establish. Notice that the conclusion above involves an implicit conditional connection between P2 and the statement in the conclusion. Let's clarify the sufficient and necessary conditions.

• Sufficient condition: Wasting money spent on telescope when less than half the total cost remains
• Necessary condition: Don't cancel the telescope

Now let's describe these conditions in more general language:

• Sufficient condition: Halt an expensive project when less than half the cost remains
• Necessary condition: Do not halt this project

Put this together to form a good prephrase:

• It is unwise to halt a project when less than half the cost remains.

Compare this prephrase to (A). Note that as you mentioned, the idea of the "agency's budget" is outside the scope of this question. However, furthermore, we could notice the conditional reasoning in this answer choice: "If it's advisable for a government agency to cancel a project, then the amount of money spent on the project must be small compared to the agency's overall budget"

Framed in contrapositive form: "If the amount of money spent on a project is large compared to the agency's budget, then the agency should not cancel the project."

Note that the necessary conditions here do sync up pretty well. We have as necessary conditions the idea that the agency shouldn't cancel. However, let's take a closer look at the sufficient conditions.

Even if we were to consider the counterfactual you propose—"amount spent large relative to overall budget for the project"—we'd still be missing the mark compared to (B). The issue here does not have to do with the budget for the project but rather the total projected cost. We need to make a comparison between the amount spent versus the total projected cost and not between the amount spent and the initial budget.

With (B), we have a good match for our prephrase.

Good question and good reasoning. I hope this helps!

[LearntheLSAT]

I think I quickly eliminate B without hesitation each time because I didn't think we were aware that "half the project's budget has been spent already." I didn't connect the - offset - to mean more than half. The way they had it worded was quite tricky.

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi LearntheLSAT,

Math on the LSAT can be deceptive! We see words like "a majority" or "over half" and we know what they mean. We've been splitting things in half since we were kids and had to share a cookie with our sibling. So we read the words "more than the additional cost required" and we don't think much more about them. I know what all those words mean, so I read them and keep moving.

BUT---they imply a numbers/percentage concept. So, just like you'd do with conditional language, just like you'd do with causal language, SLOW DOWN. Numbers on the LSAT are all about reasoning with numerical concepts, not plug and chug sorts of math you might see on other exams. It's about recognition and reasoning.

Here, we know that the amount left is less than we already spent. What does that mean exactly? For me, I play with actual numbers to make these concepts make more sense.

So, make it easy. Let's say that the we spent 100 dollars on the project already. The amount left has to be less than 100 dollars, giving us a maximum of a 199 dollar project. That means we've already spent more than half. The bigger portion is already done.

In summary, when you see numerical/percentages concepts slow down. Use real numbers to make sure you understand the concept used. Like anything else, think about what you know, and what you don't know based on the information given.

Hope that helps
Rachael

[ntusss]

Hi PowerScore Staff,

I have a technical question: what does "more than the additional cost required to complete the project" mean? I saw that you referred to it as "more than the remaining cost", and later on you said it's "less than half of the cost of the project", but I don't quite understand why we could interpret "more than the additional cost required to complete the project" as the later two meanings.

[Adam Tyson]

Both of those statements accurately describe the relationship here, ntusss. If the amount spent to date is more than the amount that we need to spend to finish, that is another way of saying that we are more than halfway there. We have spent more then half the total.

Put some simple numbers to it: imagine we have spent $100 so far. If that is "more than the additional cost required to complete the project", then the amount to complete the project is no more than $99.99. If that's the amount left to complete the project, then we have spent more than the amount left to complete it ($100 is more than $99.99) and we have spent more than half of the total ($100 is more than half of $199.99). We are more than halfway done!

[gmsanch3]

Hello,
This still doesn’t make sense to me. I need help understanding what I’m not getting.

If the project budget is $100
If “way over budget” equals $1
If “More than the additional cost” is $1.01

And if they have spent “more than the additional” which is $1.01 then they have not spent more than half the budget as answer B states.

I don’t see how we can safely know that more than half has been spent?

What am I not understanding?

[Jeremy Press]

Hi gmsanch,

The problem is that in your hypothetical, the number you're labeling as $1.01 isn't, and cannot be, correct. Let's assume a $100 initial budget (as you have), and an "over-budget" of $101, as you also have. That means that it's going to take $101 to complete the project.

Now, let's look at the last sentence. There are two figures being compared in that sentence. First, there is (A) "all the money that has already been spent," and then there is (B) the "additional cost required to complete the project." According to the sentence, no matter how we slice it, (A) has to be greater than (B). All the money spent so far, figure (A), is "more than" the additional cost required to complete the project, figure (B). That sentence has to mean they've already spent more than half of what is required to complete the project.

Let's take some hypothetical numbers and evaluate whether they fit the stimulus:

(A) $100 (amount spent so far)
(B) $1 (amount required to complete)

That example is consistent with the last sentence, and shows they've already spent more than half the total budget.

How about this one?

(A) $75 (amount spent so far)
(B) $26 (amount required to complete)

That example is consistent with the last sentence, and shows they've already spent more than half the total budget.

How about this one?

(A) $51 (amount spent so far)
(B) $50 (amount required to complete)

That example is consistent with the last sentence, and shows they've already spent more than half the total budget.

How about this one?
(A) $1.01 (amount spent so far)
(B) $99.99 (amount required to complete)

That doesn't check out. It's inconsistent with the last sentence, because the amount spent so far is not more than the cost left to finish the project. That's the example your hypo was getting tripped up on.

Let me know if that clears it up!

[rlouis1993]

"If we cancel the telescope now, all the money already spent (more than the remaining cost) will have been wasted."

Why isn't the sufficient condition "cancel the telescope" given the sufficient indicator, "if" preceded it?