b91302310
Thanks Received: 13
Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch
 
Posts: 153
Joined: August 30th, 2010
 
 
 

Q4 - Anne: Halley's Comet, now

by b91302310 Mon Aug 30, 2010 1:43 pm

I think answer choice C is also attractive and I am still confused about the said "evidence". How to distinguish the correct answer between answer choices C and D?
User avatar
 
ManhattanPrepLSAT2
Thanks Received: 311
Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch
 
Posts: 303
Joined: July 14th, 2009
 
This post thanked 1 time.
 
 

Re: Q4 - Anne: Halley's Comet, now

by ManhattanPrepLSAT2 Tue Aug 31, 2010 6:12 pm

I agree that (C) is also very attractive --

Anne's evidence is that no comet has ever been observed to flare so far from the sun.

(C) says provides evidence that directly opposes Anne's, so what we would need is evidence that comets have been observed flaring so far from the sun.

We don't get that -- rather, we get an explanation for the evidence (the reason no comet like that has been observed is...) and (D) more accurately states this function.
 
farhadshekib
Thanks Received: 45
Elle Woods
Elle Woods
 
Posts: 99
Joined: May 05th, 2011
 
This post thanked 1 time.
 
trophy
Most Thanked
 

Re: PT 40, June 2003 Sec. 1 #4 Anne: Halley's Comet, now

by farhadshekib Wed Aug 10, 2011 12:11 pm

Also, notice that Anne really presents two pieces of evidence (i.e. premises):

i) H. Comet, which is now relatively far from the sun, has recently flared brightly enough to be seen by telescopes; and

ii) This is the only comet, ever, that has been observed that far from the sun.

Conclusion: "such flare must be highly unusual".

Sue responds: "Nonsense" (i.e. Anne's conclusion is false). Why?

i) Usually people do not try to observe comets when they are so far from the sun.

(in other words, she agrees with Anne's first premise that H. Comet is currently far from the sun).

ii) The flare was observed only because an observatory was tracking H. Comet very carefully.

In other words: she agrees, implicitly, with Anne that a) H. Comet did flare brightly enough to be seen by telescope, and b) that H. Comet may be the only comet that has been SEEN to flare so far from the sun.

Sue, however, disagrees with Anne's conclusion.

While Anne concludes "such a flare must be highly unusual", Sue argues that this flare is not necessarily unusual. Rather, no one bothers observing Comet's that far from the sun.

So, it may possible that comet's, when they are very far from the sun, flare all the time - we just don't notice it because we don't look that far.

Thus (D) is correct. We know (C) is wrong because it appears that Sue actually agrees with Anne's evidence, but disagrees with her conclusion.