nightblade354 wrote:
Biologist: We know the following things about plant X. Specimens with fuzzy seeds always have long stems but never have white flowers. Specimens with curled leaves always have white flowers, and specimens with thorny seedpods always have curled leaves. A specimen of plant X in my garden has a long stem and curled leaves.
From the biologist’s statements, which one of the following can be properly inferred about the specimen of plant X in the biologist’s garden?
(A) It has white flowers and thorny seedpods
(B) It has white flowers but lacks thorny seedpods
(C) It has white flowers but lacks fuzzy seeds
(D) It has fuzzy seeds and thorny seedpods
(E) It lacks both white flowers and fuzzy seeds
Relations given:
Fuzzy seeds ---> long stem
Fuzzy seeds -/-> white flowers
Curled leaves ---> white flowers
Thorny seedpods ---> Curled leaves ---> white flowers (from above)
Note that these all are single direction relations. So long stem does not imply fuzzy seeds. Only fuzzy seeds imply long stem is present.
Specimen has long stem and curled leaves. Long stem doesn't imply anything because it is not at the left side in any relation.
Curled leaves implies white flowers. So the specimen has white flowers.
But note this relation: Fuzzy seeds -/-> white flowers
Fuzzy seeds implies that white flowers cannot be there. If white flowers are there, it means there must be no fuzzy seeds. Had there been fuzzy seeds, white flowers would not have been there.
So we get that the specimen has white flowers but lacks fuzzy seeds.
Answer (C)
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46% (02:19) correct 
