In university towns, police issue far more parking citations during

Question

In university towns, police issue far more parking citations during the school year than they do during the times when the students are out of town. Therefore we know that most parking citations in university towns are issued to students.

Which one of the following is most similar in its flawed reasoning to the flawed reasoning in the argument above?

(A) We know that children buy most of the snacks at cinemas, because popcorn sales increase as the proportion of child moviegoers to adult moviegoers increases

(B) We know that this houseplant gets more of the sunlight from the window, because it is greener than that houseplant

(C) We know that most people who go to a university are studious because most of those people study while they attend the university

(D) We know that consumers buy more fruit during the summer than they buy during the winter, because there are for more varieties of fruit available inn the summer than in the winter

(E) We know that most of the snacks parents buy go to other people's children, because when other people's children come to visit, parents give out more snacks than usual

Skywalker18 · Accepted Answer

In university towns, police issue far more parking citations during the school year than they do during the times when the students are out of town. Therefore we know that most parking citations in university towns are issued to students.

Which one of the following is most similar in its flawed reasoning to the flawed reasoning in the argument above?
Type- similar reasoning
Conclusion- most parking citations in university towns are issued to students.
Flaw- Perhaps the tickets are being given to professors, visitors, vendors, parents etc

(A) We know that children buy most of the snacks at cinemas, because popcorn sales increase as the proportion of child moviegoers to adult moviegoers increases- incorrect; the issue is with 'proportion'- it can either increase when the number of children is increasing or the number of adults is decreasing

(B) We know that this houseplant gets more of the sunlight from the window, because it is greener than that houseplant- incorrect; there is no mention of increase in the number of a group

(C) We know that most people who go to a university are studious because most of those people study while they attend the university- incorrect; It's about a characteristic; and, it's missing a time period when more of a group is around and more of a phenomenon occurs

(D) We know that consumers buy more fruit during the summer than they buy during the winter, because there are for more varieties of fruit available in the summer than in the winter - different flaw- The presence of more varieties of fruit doesn’t necessarily mean that people are buying more fruit

(E) We know that most of the snacks parents buy go to other people's children, because when other people's children come to visit, parents give out more snacks than usual- Correct; more snacks are sold when other kids come, but those snacks need not necessarily go to kids.

Answer E

Arro44 · Answer

I chose A, turned out to be wrong.

However, I will still provide my reasoning so that others can learn from my mistakes:

I tried to connect OS and AC A in the following way:

More tickets during the semester could also mean the tickets were given to faculty staff that might also leave town during the break.
More snacks in children's movies could also mean that parents with children need more sugar to cope with the stress as compared to childless adults.

Last but not least there is a small typo in AC A

(A) We know that children   by   most of the snacks at cinemas, because popcorn sales increase as the proportion of child moviegoers to adult moviegoers increases

Arro44 · Answer

Thank you for the detailed explanation, kudos to you.

So basically I got the flaw, but was unable to identify a similar pattern in the arguments presented.
While this question is of high quality, I also found it to be quite hard.

Raman109 · Answer

In university towns, police issue far more parking citations during the school year than they do during the times when the students are out of town. Therefore we know that most parking citations in university towns are issued to students. - The flaw is that maybe the tickets are for their parents, visitors, teachers or anybody other than students.

Which one of the following is most similar in its flawed reasoning to the flawed reasoning in the argument above?

(A) We know that children buy most of the snacks at cinemas because popcorn sales increase as the proportion of child moviegoers to adult moviegoers increases - The issue here is that there is no flaw. We need an option that has a flaw. If, say, the children are 90% and adults are 10%, of course, it may happen that children are responsible for sales. But the question here is to find an option where we see a possible flaw simular to the argument, thus option E suits best.

(B) We know that this houseplant gets more of the sunlight from the window, because it is greener than that houseplant. - No.

(C) We know that most people who go to a university are studious because most of those people study while they attend the university - no.

(D) We know that consumers buy more fruit during the summer than they buy during the winter, because there are for more varieties of fruit available inn the summer than in the winter - no.

(E) We know that most of the snacks parents buy go to other people's children because when other people's children come to visit, parents give out more snacks than usual - Maybe they buy snacks for their parents.

VerbalBot · Answer

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In university towns, police issue far more parking citations during

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