Question #1578

Hi, question about making valid deductions.

Started by AnkitM · started 2016-02-11 21:53 · last activity 2020-03-02 16:31 · 6 replies

Hey! Quick question, I understand how to diagram the statements, but was wondering if it is possible to combine two valid most statements that were concluded? Since they were not original statements can I still combine the most statements? This is irrelevant to the answer, but was just wondering for future purposes. I arrived at the conclusions: WC -m- HMTF and WC -m- KHW. So even though they were combined previously with a sufficient necessary statement, can it be further concluded? So HMTF -s- KHW? Thank you in advance!!

Replies

  1. Mehran · 2016-04-14 22:11

    @AnkitM absolutely! From the statements: (1) WC-most-HMTF AND (2) WC-most-KHW You can conclude: HMTF-some-KHW Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

  2. Marie · 2017-11-16 21:50

    Yes, I was wondering about that too. It does help because that explains why E is wrong is because it says "All cats.... etc" I was wondering about that too - thanks but I have another question on this please: when question states: "Good Hunters can kill prey that weighs half their weight" I understood that to mean "All good hunters can kill prey that weighs up to half their body weight". So should I take the statement to mean "most good hunters" unless it specifially says: "*All*good hunters"

  3. Mehran · 2017-11-29 01:38

    Yes, that would be correct. "Good hunters can kill prey that weighs half their weight" would be "all", i.e. good hunter is sufficient for the ability to kill prey that weighs half your weight. Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

  4. Ceci · 2018-09-17 20:50

    Why is B incorrect? I was down to B and D but couldn't distinguish

  5. Mehran · 2018-09-18 02:39

    @Ceci the problem with (B) is that we don't know the number of domestic cats versus wild cats. Remember, "most" is a percentage and we cannot confuse percents with actual numbers. For example, if there were 3 wild cats, 2 of them would be good hunters according to the stimulus (i.e. "most wild cats are good hunters"). But what if we had 10 domestic cats? If 3 of them were good hunters that would satisfy "some domestic cats are good hunters." Remember, "some" means at least one. This example proves that (B) is not necessarily true. Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

  6. Dalaal · 2020-03-02 16:31

    Hi @Mehran, I don't understand why would we consider that "good hunters can kill prey that weighs half their weight" is an "All Statement." @Naz explained in her illustration on one of the previous messages that this statement is not a S & N due to the word "can."

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