The conclusion of this argument is "if the public library shared by the adjacent towns of Redville and Glenwood were relocated from the library's current, overcrowded building in central Redville to a larger, available building in central Glenwood, the library would then be within walking distance of a larger number of library users."
How do we know this? Well the author supports this conclusion by telling us that "there are many more people living in central Glenwood than in central Redville, and people generally will walk to the library only if it located close to their homes."
Right away, you should notice that just because there are many more people living in central Glenwood than in central Redville, that doesn't necessarily mean the library would be within walking distance of a larger number of library users. This would only be true if central Glenwood and central Redville are the same size or approximately the same size.
Answer choice (B) states exactly this (i.e. "the area covered by central Glenwood is approximately the same size as that covered by central Redville") and would therefore clearly strengthen this argument.
Answer choice (E), on the other hand, does not strengthen the argument because it only provides information as to the distance people are currently walking to get to the library. We are trying to strengthen that the library would be within walking distance of a larger number of library users if it were to move from central Redville to central Glenwood.
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.
rolltribeSeptember 4, 2015
I don't understand how the size of central glenwood makes a difference here. Shouldn't population be the main concern? Central Glenwood could be the size of Antarctica but have zero library users, and then the fact that it's big has zero impact on the argument. I feel like what would strengthen this argument would be something along the lines of Central Glenwood has as many library users as central redville. Obviously this doesn't HAVE to be the correct answer choice there are certainly other ways to strengthen the argument, but I'm failing to recognize how the SIZE of the two places makes a difference. If you could explain that, I would appreciate it. Thanks
NazSeptember 5, 2015
Size of the towns in relevant because the size of the towns will helps us use information given to us about population to infer information about population density.
We are told that central Glenwood has many more people living in it than central Redville. However, just because the library is moved to central Glenwood does not mean that it is going to have more people within walking distance than where it was in central Redville. What if the area that the library is relocated is mostly agricultural and there are no people living around that specific area, whereas where it was before in Redville could have been a very crowded residential neighborhood?
We need more info on how big the space is that the population lives in. So, if the area covered by Glenwood is about the same size as that covered by central Redville, then it helps strengthen the conclusion that the library would be within walking distance of a larger number of library users if moved to central Glenwood.
Hope that clears things up! Please let us know if you have any other questions.
ValerieOctober 25, 2016
I also don't understand how the size makes difference (lol), because it is already stated in the passage that "the library would then be within walking distance of a larger number of library users". So it's not possible that the area in Glenwood would be, for example, mostly agricultural, and there would be no people living around that specific area. And if so, could you please explain the correct answer choice somehow differently, I really want to understand! Thank you in advance.
MehranNovember 1, 2016
@Valerie while it is true that the argument concludes that "the library would then be within walking distance of a larger number of library users," this conclusion is based on the premise that "there are many more people living in central Glenwood than in central Redville, and people generally will walk to the library only if it is located close to their homes."
So notice here that this conclusion is still based on the premise that there are many more people living in central Glenwood than in central Redville.
But imagine now that central Glenwood was 10x the size of central Redville. The fact that more people live in central Glenwood would not necessarily mean that the library would then be within walking distance of a larger number of library users.
This is why (B) strengthens this argument because it rules out this possibility that central Glenwood is larger than central Redville.
Hope that makes sense. Please let us know if you have any other questions.
SarahAMarch 12, 2019
This is great! Might be the most interesting and thought provoking chat board discussion I've so far in this course. Very helpful, Thank you :)
husky07September 29, 2020
i was so hyped thinking i got this one right, only to find out i got it wrong. im so hurt. Similar to those above, i didnt understand how the size of the cities made a difference but after reading the discussion board i realize why it matters.
VictoriaOctober 2, 2020
Hi @husky07,
Glad to hear the discussion boards helped you out! Keep up the great work and please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any further questions.
LaurenLuvzNuggzMay 13, 2021
I want to also jump in and say this particular message board was awesome. Sometimes I still leave the discussion board feeling like I "kind of" get the explanation, but still can't fully grasp it or visualize the connection. After reading through all of the instructor responses for this question, it finally clicked. Thanks for keeping the response chain going!
AmbriaJune 10, 2021
Hi! Here in June of 2021. This discussion thread so helped me! I also chose option E, but now understand why it's an incorrect answer choice. Great discussion. Thanks. Also, agree with the above comment ^
kensFebruary 23, 2022
But isn't the fact that the "library is within the walking distance of G" is already established from the passage? If so, I don't know why the answer choice needs to reaffirm this fact? Could strengthening a statement already established in the passage be the correct answer?
