| Critical Reasoning Butler: January 2025 |
| January 12 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 Astronomical data gathered by the Hubble Space Telescope suggests that yellow, medium-sized stars similar to the sun form less than ten percent of the stars in the Milky Way. Of over 75 million catalogued stars in the core of the Milky Way, where the density of stars is much higher than that in any of the arms, almost all are much larger red stars.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the above justification of the claim that stars similar to the sun form less than ten percent of the stars in the Milky Way?
A. There are billions of stars in regions of the Milky Way that the Hubble Space Telescope has not observed.
B. The Hubble Space Telescope would have detected any smaller stars similar to the sun in the regions of the Milky Way in which larger stars have been detected.
C. Even a large star that exists in one of the arms of the Milky Way is not as easily detected by the Hubble Space Telescope as a similar-sized star in the core of the Milky Way is.
D. The current, most accurate astronomical theories predict that almost all stars in the core of the Milky Way are millions of times larger than the sun.
E. The smaller a star is relative to the size of others in its region of the Milky Way, the more difficult it is for the Hubble Space Telescope to detect.
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CR 2 Which of the following most logically completes the argument given?
Those who live in isolated agrarian communities, such as the Amish, tend to only eat what is produced locally and consume very little sugar. Few such people develop dental problems, and they do not require dentures in their old age, as is common in more urban areas. However, when such people move to urban areas and adopt high-sugar diets, they often do develop dental problems. Though they are suggestive, these facts do not prove that sugar is what causes dental problems, however, as, ____________.
A. the fact that such people do not need dentures in their old age can be accounted for by genetic factors
B. when such people move to an urban area, they make other changes in their diets as well
C. one can maintain a low-sugar diet while living in an urban area
D. people eating high-sugar diets and living their whole lives in urban areas have a general tendency to develop dental problems.
E. sugar is necessary for human life; one can die if one consumes absolutely no sugar
10 Jan 2026, 12:27
