T-bezz
Hi
GMATNinja,
I’m not sure why E is the answer. Should it not be (A)?
The conclusion mentions “practical problems that affect people’s quality of life”.
(E) helps to understand the structure of proteins that cause disease - do disease not have an impact on life’s quality?
(A) the university denies research on a mathematical puzzle with no relation to practical concerns - although it is openly stated, I think this doesn’t have any repercussion on people’s life; hence it should be the answer.
(B) could also be a contender, but since A provides a clear statement on the relation to practical problems, I think it’s a stronger choice
Please let me know where I’m making the wrong reasoning.
Thanks,
T
Posted from my mobile deviceThe university president states that research institutions have an obligation to promote research that meets a certain criteria (showing some promise of yielding insights into the causes of practical problems that affect people's quality of life).
But notice that the president does NOT specify what research institutions should do if the research does NOT meet that criteria. Maybe research that meets some other criteria should also be promoted?
In other words, we DO know what the president wants research institutions to do if the answer is "yes" (yes, the research shows some promise of yielding...), but we do NOT know what the president wants if the answer is "no" (no, the research does NOT show some promise of yielding...). We're missing the "no" part of the flow chart, so we aren't sure whether the principle justifies choice (A).
This is an example of necessary vs. sufficient conditions. Showing "some promise of yielding..." is sufficient -- if this condition is met, that's enough to justify promoting that research. But does that make it a NECESSARY condition? Maybe not.
For more on necessary vs. sufficient conditions, check out
this post or
this thread.
I hope that helps!