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 Administrator
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#23437
Complete Question Explanation

Flaw in the Reasoning-#%. The correct answer choice is (B)

The argument is that since 7.6 million women have incomes and have preschool-aged children, and 6.4 million women are the sole income-earners for their families, most of the women who have preschool-aged children are the sole income-earners for their families.

The argument is horribly flawed, because the truth is that there is no necessary overlap between the discussed groups. A woman could be a sole income-earner, without having any children at all, let alone pre-school aged children. Remember, a "family" does not have to include "children." Every "family" with a woman who has and income and preschool-aged children could be a family with two parents who both work.

Answer choice (A): The figures are not too imprecise, they are just the wrong figures to look at.

As a note, unless approximated numbers are equal in all of their higher places, and almost equal in their approximated place, there is no reason to assume that they are too imprecise for general comparisons. If we assume that an author uses a consistent rounding method for rounded numbers, there is no barrier to general comparison unless the rounded numbers are equal.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. Since "women who earn incomes and have preschool-aged children" is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for "women who are the sole income-earners for their families," there is no way to be formally certain that these groups are related to each other. Remember, "family" does not necessitate "children."

Answer choice (C): Since the stimulus was not at all concerned with whether the supposed trend would continue, this response is off-topic and incorrect.

Answer choice (D): For the purposes of the comparison in the stimulus, it does not matter whether families with preschool-aged children also have older children, so this response does not describe a flaw, and is wrong. You may have chosen this response anyway, because a careless reading of this choice might create the impression that this choice points out that the families discussed do not have to include preschool-aged children. This response may have made you consider that possibility, but it does not actually state that possibility, and you must be careful to read the choice for what it actually states.

Answer choice (E): Since the stimulus was not concerned with making conclusions about men, it is acceptable to leave out data about men, and this choice does not offer a legitimate flaw.
 Johnclem
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#23495
Hi could you please check my understanding of the flaw for this question?

Flaw : if these women each belong to different groups than we could argue there is a ton of women so are not sole income earners. But of they are the same group than its only 1.2 million. We're just not told if these groups overlap. I think the term "comparatively " threw me off a bit , as I thought that meant these Two groups are compared. I :-? :-?

7.6 million women : earn $ and have kids.
6.4 million women : sole income earners
C: these figures indicate there are comparatively few income earning women who have preschool age children but are not the sole income earners of their family .


-John
 BethRibet
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#23533
Hi Johnclem,

If I'm understanding you correctly, you are pinpointing the fact that these two categories may or may not overlap, and we don't have information to know whether they do. That is the flaw in this argument.

The word comparatively isn't, in context, saying that these two categories are compared. It's saying there are relatively few of something.

Hope this helps!
Beth
 SwanQueen
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#77508
Hello,

I was confused with the wording of the author's conclusion: "there are comparatively few income-earning women who have preschool-age children but are not the sole income earners for their families"

In the above explanation, an LSAT administrator rephrased this as: "most of the women who have preschool-aged children are the sole income-earners for their families."

Can someone break down how the former quotation is equivalent to the latter one?

Thank you in advance!
 Paul Marsh
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#77870
Hi SwanQueen! Sure thing.

"There are comparatively few income-earning women who have preschool-age children but are not the sole income earners for their families".

That's a bit convoluted, so straightening it out a bit, we'd say: "there aren't many income-earning women with preschool-age children who aren't also the sole income earners for their families".

Or to put it another way and take out all those negative words: "almost all income-earning women with pre-school age children are also the sole income earners for their families". Which is almost exactly what the above post from the Administrator says.

Hope that helps! Please follow up if you have any more questions about this one.

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