Researchers have discovered that caffeine can be as physically addictive as other psychoactive substances. Some peop...

Mazen on July 28, 2022

Hi,

The part of the stimulus stating "AS MANY people consume caffeine as consume any one of the other addictive psychoactive substances" is interpreted my LSATMAX as follows:
"This comparison allows us to say that for any other psychoactive drug as many OR MORE people take caffeine—or on the flipside as many OR FEWER people take the other drug."

I interpreted the quoted part of the stimulus as conveying equality between* caffeine consumers and other psychoactive drugs. But I did not read the phrase "as many" as "at least," which would lead to the interpretation provided by LSATMAX.

Would you please confirm whether "as many" mean "at least""

Respectfully,
Mazen

Emil-Kunkin on July 29, 2022

Hi Mazen, I think that those are saying similar but different things.

That is, if I said "as many people like chocolate as like wine" instead of "at least as many people like chocolate as like wine" there would be little difference. The first statement is saying that these two things are equal, although in every day speech I think it would be possible to interpret it as saying that it is possible more like chocolate. The second is setting a floor-we cannot have more wine than chocolate. This question is not testing if the "as many" is exact, or if it (as people often mean it to say ) means "at least as many" but I personally would not necessarily treat those as the same thing

Mazen on July 30, 2022

Got it.

Thanks!