Archaeologists have recently found in various grave sites in the mexic

Question

Archaeologists have recently found in various grave sites in the mexican state of veracruz , small ceramic animals with attached wheels . At first this find might seem to discredit the belief that the wheel and its uses were unknown in pre-columbian culture .On reflection ,however, it would seem that discovery actually bears out this belief. To be familiar with these toys and yet not to apply the principle of the wheel to daily tasks such as carting,trasportation and pottery-making must indicate a lack of understanding of the wheel and potential benefits.

Which of the following best expresses the argument made in the passage above?

(A) If the pre-Columbian people of Veracruz, had understood the principle of the wheel, they would not have attached wheels to ceramic animals.

(B) If the pre-Columbian people of Veracruz, had understood the principle of the wheel, they would have adapted it to everyday use

(C) If the pre-Columbian people of Veracruz, had understood the principle of the wheel, they would have adapted the idea of the wheel from the wheeled ceramic figures.

(D) Pre-Columbian people of Veracruz, must have known of the wheel and its use because they attached wheels to ceramic animals.

(E) Since the pre-Columbian people of Veracruz did not know of the wheel or its uses, the ceramic animals found in the grave sites must be the remains of later cultures.

winterschool · Answer

Archaeologists have recently found in various grave sites in the mexican state of veracruz , small ceramic animals with attached wheels . At first this find might seem to discredit the belief that the wheel and its uses were unknown in pre-columbian culture .On reflection ,however, it would seem that discovery actually bears out this belief. To be familiar with these toys and yet not to apply the principle of the wheel to daily tasks such as carting,trasportation and pottery-making must indicate a lack of understanding of the wheel and potential benefits.

Which of the following best expresses the argument made in the passage above?

(A) If the pre-Columbian people of Veracruz, had understood the principle of the wheel, they would not have attached wheels to ceramic animals.  Incorrect

(B)  If the pre-Columbian people of Veracruz, had understood the principle of the wheel, they would have adapted it to everyday use   Correct 
 
(C) If the pre-Columbian people of Veracruz, had understood the principle of the wheel, they would have adapted the idea of the wheel from the wheeled ceramic figures.  Incorrect

(D) Pre-Columbian people of Veracruz, must have known of the wheel and its use because they attached wheels to ceramic animals.  Incorrect

(E) Since the pre-Columbian people of Veracruz did not know of the wheel or its uses, the ceramic animals found in the grave sites must be the remains of later cultures.  Incorrect

between B & C - last line of argument says about daily tasks that can be done by using wheel such as carting, transportation and pottery-making

so, B is better than C

rajshreeasati · Answer

the Argument says =
P = Animal toys with wheels found( eg, horse with wheels)
P = Before it was beleived that these V people didnt know the use of wheel, and since toys were found, they should know about their uses.
BUT = The belief is even more stregnthened by this belief after the discovery of these toys
So, if these people knew about wheels and yet didnt understand how to use them, they didnt understand the use of wheels!

Pre-thinking = So the whole argument says that if they knew about wheels, they should have known its uses also. They should def. know that how these wheels are used if they knew that these toys had wheels!

Only B choice expresses what the argument is really trying to say, ie the author's intended meaning which is indicating that if they knew about wheel, goddamn know about its uses as well!

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

B and C seem like almost the same meaning to me: "adapted the idea of the wheel from the wheeled ceramic figures"=adapted the idea of the toy for other uses"="adapted it to everyday use".

So why C is wrong? can an expert elaborate? thanks

PeachSnapple1 · Answer

Ah, this is a classic contrapositive case.
The premise stated that: the people did not apply the principle to daily tasks, therefore they did not understand the benefits of the toys.
In a contrapositive case, if we have  A->B , then we also have  not B -> not A  .
Therefore, the predicted answer should be: If the people understand the benefits of the toys, then they definitely would apply to daily tasks. Only B matches this prediction. 
I have to admit that understanding contrapositive have helped me so many times in assumption questions in the GMAT.

RICHA1189 · Answer

Archaeologists have recently found in various grave sites in the mexican state of veracruz , small ceramic animals with attached wheels . At first this find might seem to discredit the belief that the wheel and its uses were unknown in pre-columbian culture .On reflection ,however, it would seem that discovery actually bears out this belief. To be familiar with these toys and yet not to apply the principle of the wheel to daily tasks such as carting,trasportation and pottery-making must indicate a lack of understanding of the wheel and potential benefits.

Which of the following best expresses the argument made in the passage above?

(A) If the pre-Columbian people of Veracruz, had understood the principle of the wheel, they would not have attached wheels to ceramic animals. figures.  Incorrect . First half is correct, purpose mentioned is incorrect

(B) If the pre-Columbian people of Veracruz, had understood the principle of the wheel, they would have adapted it to everyday use correct.  As mentioned in the passage

(C) If the pre-Columbian people of Veracruz, had understood the principle of the wheel, they would have adapted the idea of the wheel from the wheeled ceramic figures.  Incorrect . First half is correct, purpose mentioned is incorrect
 
(D) Pre-Columbian people of Veracruz, must have known of the wheel and its use because they attached wheels to ceramic animals.  opposite of the argument

(E) Since the pre-Columbian people of Veracruz did not know of the wheel or its uses, the ceramic animals found in the grave sites must be the remains of later cultures.  Out of scope

AryaSwagat · Answer

So why Option (D) is wrong !! Which strongly refutes the fact that the V people only knew the wheel for decorative purpose and did not know its daily applications for other works.

Archaeologists have recently found in various grave sites in the mexican state of veracruz , small ceramic animals with attached wheels .  At first this find might seem to discredit the belief    that the wheel and its uses were unknown in pre-columbian culture   . On reflection ,however, it would seem that discovery actually bears out this belief . To be familiar with these toys and yet not to apply the principle of the wheel to daily tasks such as carting,trasportation and pottery-making must indicate a lack of understanding of the wheel and potential benefits.

So the Belief "that the wheel and its uses were unknown in pre-columbian culture" is re affirmed  
  Conclusion:     V people were familiar with the toys but lacked the understanding of the wheel and potential benefits so could not apply it to daily tasks

Between  B   and  C  the later states that they could have adapted the idea of wheels from the toys, so it tangentially indicate that those toys were not made by those people and may be foreign to them, which is out of scope here , Rather the conclusion is based upon a surprise " How they could use it at toys and could not apply for other applications" and conclude that they did not understand the principle of wheel.

So  C

AnuK2222 · Answer

hi, can anybody here help me understand why B is the answer and not C..., it is a inference CR Q, archaeologists-have-recently-found-in-various-grave-sites-in-the-mexic-378483.html thanks in advance

Archaeologists have recently found in various grave sites in the mexic

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Archaeologists have recently found in various grave sites in the mexic

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