#11 - The annual Journal for Publication, which often

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True—SN. The correct answer choice is (A)

This Must be True question contains a classic multiple necessary condition construction. We are told that the Journal publishes only articles that are submitted before March 6 and written by certified psychoanalysts. Thus for an article to be published two things are necessary: written by a cert. psychoanalyst and submitted before 3/6. Diagrammatically:

• Cert. Psych.
  Publish +
  Before 3/6

Next we are told that Stevens submitted an article before March 6 and that the article was published. Since his article was published you know that it was submitted before 3/6 (given) and that Stevens must also be a certified psychoanalyst. Since the March 6 information was given, the most significant inference (and the logical prephrase) is that Stevens is a certified psychoanalyst.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. Even though this answer does not state that Stevens is a certified psychoanalyst, you can still know this answer is true. The absence of the word “certified” does nothing to invalidate the truth of answer choice (A).

Answer choice (B): There is no way to know that the Journal “frequently publishes” Stevens’ articles. All we know is that he publishes articles frequently in psychoanalytic literature.

Answer choice (C): This is new information. The stimulus does not provide information supporting that Stevens is an authority on a large number of topics in psychoanalysis.

Answer choice (D): While we are told that the Journal often solicits articles, we cannot know that Stevens’ article was solicited.

Answer choice (E): There is no way to know what the readers’ response will be to Stevens’ article (whether they will find it “interesting” or not).

[bghddlst]

Lesson 2 online deals with a conditional...

"The annual Journal for Publication, which often solicits articles, publishes only those articles that are both submitted before March 6 and written by certified psychoanalysts."

The diagram...

before 3/6
Pub --> +
cert Psych

If the word "only" had been placed immediately before the word "publishes," instead of immediately after it, would the diagram have changed? Whether the answer is Yea or Nay, please explain.


Thanks!

Confuzzled Bob in Memphis

[Nikki Siclunov]

Thanks for your question! Indeed, "only" refers to a necessary condition in a conditional statement; that said, you need to look at the context in which the word is being used. It you change the wording as you suggest, the meaning would remain the same:

• The annual Journal for Publication, which often solicits articles, only publishes articles that are both submitted before March 6 and written by certified psychoanalysts

As in the original example, here we know that the only published articles are those that meet the two conditions specified above. In either instance, "only" refers to the conditions an article must meet in order to get published.

Let me know if this helps!

[LaCrosse]

I like this question! It motivated me to re-read the section in Ch. 6 of the LR Bible about the difference between “Only”, “Only If” and “The Only”. I’ve decided to change up the position of “only” in the first sentence to see how it would change the diagram and the meaning of the problem. Would anyone care to confirm if I am on the right track?

(Version 1.0 - the original): “The Journal publishes only those articles that are both submitted before March 6 and written by certified psychoanalysts”
(Version 1.1): “The Journal only publishes those articles that are both submitted before March 6 and written by certified psychoanalysts”
(Version 1.2): “The Journal publishes articles only if they are both submitted before March 6 and written by certified psychoanalysts”
(Version 1.3): “The only articles published by the Journal are those that are both submitted before March 6 and written by certified psychoanalysts”

Diagram for Versions 1.0-1.3:
published --> article submitted before March 6 AND article written by a certified psychoanalyst


(Version 1.4): “Only articles published by the Journal are those that are both submitted before March 6 and written by certified psychoanalysts”

Diagram for Version 1.4:
article submitted before March 6 AND article written by a certified psychoanalyst --> published

Would it be accurate to say that while Versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 are interchangeable, Version 1.4 completely transforms the meaning of the problem? Doesn’t the problem effectively become unsolvable with the answer choices that we have? If we were to use Version 1.4 of the sentence in place of Version 1.0 then the only thing we’d be able to conclude is that Stevens MIGHT BE a psychoanalyst (but doesn’t have to be one), correct?

Thank you,

Alex

[Nikki Siclunov]

Alex,

You are completely correct on all counts Congrats!! As a reward, here's a neat cheat sheet I've created to help out with problems like these:

The following expressions all mean the same thing:

A B

• If A, then B
  If not B, then not A
  All As are Bs
  A only if B
  Not A, unless B
  Not A, until B
  Only B can be A
  The only way to do A is to do B
  A depends on B
  Cannot have A without B
  None but B are A
  None except B are A
  Not until I do B can I do A

A NOT B (alternatively, A B)

• If A, then not B
  If B, then not A
  No As are Bs
  No Bs are A
  Cannot have both A and B
  A depends on not B
  B depends on not A
  A only if not B
  B only if not A
  At most one of A or B can be selected
  At least one of A or B must not be selected

NOT A B

• If not A, then B
  If not B, then A
  Without A, we must have B
  Without B, we must have A
  Not A depends on B
  Not B depends on A
  At least one of A or B is selected
  At most one of A or B is not selected
  Either A or B is selected

A NOT B (alternatively, B NOT A)

• Either A or B, but not both, is selected
  All except A are B
  All except B are A
  All but A are B
  All but B are A
  A if and only if not B
  B if and only if not A
  Either A is selected without B, or else B is selected without A
  Either A is selected and B is not selected, or else B is selected and A is not selected.

A B

• If A then B, and if B then A
  A and B are interdependent
  All As are Bs, and all Bs are As
  A if and only if B
  B if and only if A
  Cannot have A without B, and cannot have B without A
  Either A and B are both selected, or else neither A nor B is selected

Hope this helps!!

[LaCrosse]

Thank you Nikki! I really appreciate the cheat sheet, it'll help me verify that my conditional reasoning diagrams are up to snuff!

Regards,

Alex

[hbaezh]

I was torn between A and B
I chose A, the right answer, but could you explain what type of wrong answer B is?
Is it because B is an assumption that cannot be proven based on the facts of the stimulus....it is a CBT but not a MBT?


Thanks in advance!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi hbaezh,

You are correct that answer choice (B) is something that could be true, but it doesn't have to be true.

We know that the Journal for Publication often solicits articles, and we know that Stevens publishes frequently in psychoanalytic literature. But we don't know that he publishes frequently in this specific journal. It's possible to be true based on the facts, but it's not required. Since it isn't something that must be true, answer choice (B) is incorrect here.

Hope that helps!