Summarize Argument
The author concludes that eating tilapia fillets is a good choice for those who want the benefits of eating fish, but who don’t like the taste of fish. This is based on the fact that tilapia fillets don’t have the strong fishy taste that a lot of people don’t like.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that eating tilapia fillets has the same benefits as eating fish typically does.
A
Eating more than the recommended amount of fish can cause toxins that are present in high concentrations in many varieties of fish to accumulate in a person’s body.
This suggests we shouldn’t eat too much fish. But this doesn’t impact the argument concerning whether tilapia is a good choice for people who want the benefits of fish but don’t like the taste of fish.
B
Tilapia are invasive species that crowd out native species of fish in lakes throughout the world.
This suggests tilapia are bad for native fish. But this has nothing to do with whether tilapia is a good choice for people who want the benefits of fish but don’t like the taste of fish.
C
Tilapia fillets contain little of the beneficial fish oils that are the main reason nutritionists recommend eating fish frequently.
This points out that tilapia fillets won’t give people the same benefits of eating fish.
D
Most people who do not care for the taste of fish eat less fish than is recommended by most nutritionists.
This doesn’t impact whether tilapia fillets would be a good choice for people who don’t like the taste of fish.
E
People who rarely or never eat fish usually dislike any food with a strong fishy taste.
Tilapia doesn’t have a strong fishy taste. (E) doesn’t impact whether tilapia fillets would be a good choice for people who don’t like fish.
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that an inexpensive handheld vacuum cleaner is likely to be sufficient for your needs if they are limited to cleaning small areas of uncarpeted floors. This is because most of these vacuums are easy to use and will satisfy vacuuming needs on wood and tile floors.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that uncarpeted floors are typically wood or tile. This overlooks the possibility that most uncarpeted floors are made of something besides wood or tile.
A
The only types of floor surfaces that most consumers encounter are carpet, wood, and tile.
This helps establish the truth of the author’s assumption. If the only surfaces most consumers encounter are carpet/wood/tile, then uncarpeted floor tend to be wood/tile. We know the handheld vacuums are likely sufficient for wood/tile.
B
Inexpensive handheld vacuum cleaners are sufficient for cleaning small areas of carpeted floors.
The conclusion concerns people who only need to clean uncarpeted floors. So whether the vacuums are good for carpeted floors has nothing to do with the conclusion.
C
Any handheld vacuum cleaner that is easy to use but sufficient only for cleaning small areas of uncarpeted floors is likely to be inexpensive.
We don’t know whether handheld vacuum cleaners are sufficient “only” for small uncarpeted areas. We’re trying to prove that they are sufficient for those areas, but don’t have premises that establish this.
D
If your household cleaning needs include cleaning small areas of uncarpeted floors, it is likely that you will need a vacuum cleaner.
The argument concerns whether a specific kind of vacuum cleaner would be enough. (D) doesn’t help establish that this kind of vacuum cleaner is enough.
E
The more versatile a vacuum cleaner is, the more likely it is to be expensive.
We have no idea about the versatility of a handheld vacuum cleaner. And (E) doesn’t connect versatility to being enough to clean small uncarpeted areas.
Summary
Images shown to subjects in an experiment usually showed up at the top of the screen but sometimes showed up at the bottom.
When asked to guess where the next image would appear, the subjects were correct less than half of the time.
Their guesses were based on patterns they thought they saw.
If they always guessed that the image would show up at the top, they would guess correctly most of the time.
When asked to guess where the next image would appear, the subjects were correct less than half of the time.
Their guesses were based on patterns they thought they saw.
If they always guessed that the image would show up at the top, they would guess correctly most of the time.
Notable Valid Inferences
The images showed up at the top of the screen over 50% of the time.
A
If the subjects had always guessed that the next image would appear at the top, they would not have been basing their guesses on any pattern they believed they saw in the sequence.
Could be false. It could be that the strategy of always guessing that the images would be at the top came from repeatedly observing the image at the top. In the world where the subjects were always guessing top, we don’t have the information to say what this guess was based on.
B
Basing one’s guesses about what will happen next on the basis of patterns one believes one sees is less likely to lead to correct guesses than always guessing that what has happened before will happen next.
Could be false. (B) compares the strategy that the subjects used (basing guesses on perceived patterns) with a strategy that is not mentioned in the stimulus, so we cannot say which of these strategies is more likely to lead to correct guesses.
C
There was no predictable pattern that one could reasonably believe occurred in the series of images on the computer screen.
Could be false. It could be the case that there was a predictable pattern, but that the subjects didn’t pick up on it quickly enough to guess correctly a majority of the time.
D
Some of the subjects sometimes guessed that the next image would appear at the bottom of the computer screen, but were incorrect.
Must be true. Since subjects guessed correctly less than half of the time but would have been right most of the time by always choosing "top," they must have sometimes guessed "bottom" and been wrong. Otherwise, their accuracy wouldn’t be below 50%.
E
The most rational strategy for guessing correctly where the next image would appear would have been simply to always guess that the image would appear at the top.
Could be false. While we know that always guessing top would be more accurate than the strategy that the subjects used, we don’t know that always guessing top would be the most accurate strategy. There could have been other, more accurate, strategies.