Unless the residents of Glen Hills band together, the proposal to rezone that city will be approved. If it is the cit...
dgundermanMarch 20, 2020
When to count "probably" and similar words as part of a logic sequence
Why is "probably result in overcrowded schools" diagramed as a part of the logic sequence? My understanding was that statements that are in questions ("might"/"possibly"/"probably") could not be included in the logic chain, because we are not sure if it is or is not happening.
Ultimately still came to the conclusion that "B" was the right answer, but now am unsure if I am identifying variables correctly in other problems. Thank you for your help!
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Great question. Here's how I'd diagram this stimulus:
residents don't band together-->proposal approved
proposal approved-->able to build water and sewer systems needed for apartments
apartments built-->population will increase
population increases-->new roads will be built
new roads or schools built-->substantial tax increases
Notice that I left the overcrowded schools part out of my diagram because it's not certain. I would NOT diagram 'probably result in overcrowded schools' in my diagram because this is not conditional language.
Based on what we have in our diagrams, we should look for transitive conclusions. Some of these statements do chain up.
The first two statements chain up to tell us that if residents do not band together, then the city will be able to build the water and sewer systems.
The rest of the premises in the stimulus combine to tell us that if apartments are built, taxes will increase. These two chains must stay separate because the water and sewer systems are necessary, but are not sufficient, for apartments to be built.
(B) says, "If developers build apartment houses in Glen Hills, there will be substantial tax increases for the residents of Glen Hills."
(B) looks great, as it's the conclusion that we got from the second string of premises in the stimulus. If apartments are built, then we know that there will be new residents who will require new roads, which means there will be tax hikes. Thus, (B) is the correct answer choice.
Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any other questions!
