Harsh2111s
What wrong with option C ?
Hello again,
Harsh2111s. Option (C), as
bhaskar123 pointed out above, goes awry by framing the statement with
some individuals. These
individuals could or could not be mathematicians, but the linear logic of the passage dictates that the correct answer
must concern this particular group of people. Consider adding a little color to the explanation:
Bunuel
No mathematician today would flatly refuse to accept the results of an enormous computation as an adequate demonstration of the truth of a theorem. In 1976, however, this was not the case. Some mathematicians at that time refused to accept the results of a complex computer demonstration of a very simple mapping theorem. Although some mathematicians still hold a strong belief that a simple theorem ought to have a short, simple proof, in fact, some simple theorems have required enormous proofs.
If all of the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following must also be true?
(A) Today, some mathematicians who believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof would consider accepting the results of an enormous computation as a demonstration of the truth of a theorem.
(B) Some individuals who believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof are not mathematicians.
(C) Today, some individuals who refuse to accept the results of an enormous computation as a demonstration of the truth of a theorem believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof.
(D) Some individuals who do not believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof would not be willing to accept the results of an enormous computation as proof of a complex theorem.
(E) Some nonmathematicians do not believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof.
Choice (A) works, since
no mathematician today would flatly refuse... We cannot make any predictions as to how
individuals may react to a situation, and if you find yourself arguing that
some individuals must include some mathematicians, as in, of all the people on Earth (and beyond, in space),
some of them have to be mathematicians, then you are really grasping at straws. Again, CR questions, as odd as they can seem to be at first, follow a straight-arrow logic, and here, we simply have an unqualified
some individuals in three of the five answer choices. (What is the size of this group of
some people, for instance? Would there have to be a mathematician among them?) As for (E), any predictions on what
nonmathematicians believe is complete speculation, having no anchor in the text.
I hope that helps. Keep studying the patterns of the correct and incorrect answer choices in CR questions, and at a certain point, most questions will just "click." (You might try the
Question of the Day for additional practice if you have not already.)
- Andrew
21 Jan 2020, 09:06
55%
(hard)
33%
(02:30)
wrong 
