#4 - Bart: A mathematical problem that defied solution for hundreds of years has finally yielded to

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Point at Issue Questions. The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[augonabo]

Hi! I originally chose B for this answer - could you explain why this would be incorrect? Is it because the language is too strong (ie must)? Thank you!

[Luke Haqq]

Hi augonabo!

For point at issue questions like this one, it can be helpful to put an initial for each of the speakers next to an answer choice you are considering. When the question asks about a point of disagreement, you want one of the speakers to agree and the other person to disagree with the answer choice. For answer choices that aren't correct, it'll often be the case that you know whether one speaker would agree or disagree with it, but it's not clear how the other speaker would view it. Or it might be the case that you won't know what either speaker thinks, in which case the answer choice would again be incorrect.

Here, Anne seems to argue that, for a result to be acceptable, it is sufficient that it can be reproduced by other supercomputers. This is different from (B), which is stating that a problem "must be" replicated on another supercomputer to be acceptable, so I think you are right to pick up on those words. It therefore seems like we don't know how Anne would respond to (B). And Bart thinks that an ability to comprehend is what is necessary, so Bart thinks what is in (B) is irrelevant to acceptability. Since we don't have one speaker agreeing and the other disagreeing, that is why we can eliminate (B).