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Expert replies
by geet » Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:54 am
The spacing of the four holes on a fragment of a bone flute excavated at a Neanderthal campsite is just what is required to play the third through sixth notes of the diatonic scale—the seven-note musical scale used in much of Western music since the Renaissance. Musicologists therefore hypothesize that the diatonic musical scale was developed and used thousands of years before it was adopted by Western musicians.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the hypothesis?

A. Bone flutes were probably the only musical instrument made by Neanderthals.
B. No musical instrument that is known to have used a diatonic scale is of an earlier date than the flute found at the Neanderthal campsite.
C. The flute was made from a cave-bear bone and the campsite at which the flute fragment was excavated was in a cave that also contained skeletal remains of cave bears.
D. Flutes are the simplest wind instrument that can be constructed to allow playing a diatonic scale.
E. The cave-bear leg bone used to make the Neanderthal flute would have been long enough to make a flute capable of playing a complete diatonic scale


OA l8r!!! :)
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by madhur_ahuja » Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:49 am
IMO E

E. The cave-bear leg bone used to make the Neanderthal flute would have been long enough to make a flute capable of playing a complete diatonic scale

If this is not true, the argument weakens.
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by ssmiles08 » Sun Jul 05, 2009 3:58 pm
IMO E too.
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by dendude » Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:36 pm
Only B offers a direct support of the hypothesis.
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by plumed » Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:47 am
IMO E.
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by keepsmilinyaar » Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:03 am
Can some one explain?
There is no mention of the cavebear in the question.
Considering E as the answer implies we are using extra information.
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by graghukalyan » Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:23 am
Can't B be the answer ??
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by geet » Mon Jul 06, 2009 4:52 am
OA is E
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by vishal1702 » Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:26 am
This is OG 12th edition question & OA is E

Geet can u pls check back the answer or tell the source of the question...
I am too not satisfied with the explanation given in OG...it states..

One way to approach this question is to ask yourself, "If this option were false, would the hypothesis be less likely to be true?" If the Neanderthal bone fragment could not have been part of a flute that encompassed the entire seven-note diatonic scale, then the bone fragment's existence would not provide strong support for the hypothesis.

[spoiler]B)[/spoiler] This also weakens the hypothesis, because it states that there is no known evidence of a certain type that would support the hypothesis.

[spoiler]E)[/spoiler] Correct. This option most strongly supports the hypothesis.

I hope this helps.
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by Domnu » Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:49 pm
B doesn't weaken the hypothesis; suppose B were true... in that case, let's say the dinosaurs knew how to play music. But this is still thousands of years earlier than the scales were adopted by Western musicians. So, B cannot be the correct answer.
Have you wondered how you could have found such a treasure? -T
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by Sharma_Gaurav » Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:09 pm
i have picked B .

as E does not seem to be relevant to discussion. Argument only about playing 3rd to 6th node of diatonic flute , and not the complete tone.

hence B is the OA
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by madhur_ahuja » Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:52 pm
Sharma_Gaurav wrote:i have picked B .


hence B is the OA
The original poster has already posted the OA. Do you have the source of the question to confirm the contradicting OA ?
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by dumb.doofus » Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:56 pm
Option B is toooo extreme.. can't be the answer.. E it is for reasons already mentioned above..
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by ssgmatter » Wed May 26, 2010 6:59 am
geet wrote:The spacing of the four holes on a fragment of a bone flute excavated at a Neanderthal campsite is just what is required to play the third through sixth notes of the diatonic scale�the seven-note musical scale used in much of Western music since the Renaissance. Musicologists therefore hypothesize that the diatonic musical scale was developed and used thousands of years before it was adopted by Western musicians.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the hypothesis?

A. Bone flutes were probably the only musical instrument made by Neanderthals.
B. No musical instrument that is known to have used a diatonic scale is of an earlier date than the flute found at the Neanderthal campsite.
C. The flute was made from a cave-bear bone and the campsite at which the flute fragment was excavated was in a cave that also contained skeletal remains of cave bears.
D. Flutes are the simplest wind instrument that can be constructed to allow playing a diatonic scale.
E. The cave-bear leg bone used to make the Neanderthal flute would have been long enough to make a flute capable of playing a complete diatonic scale


OA l8r!!! :)
Can anyone explain in details as to what is the problem with B and D here?
Best-
Amit
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by FightWithGMAT » Wed May 26, 2010 8:33 am
There is a difference between "found" and "excavated".
found at site does not suggest that the bone flute is associated with neanderthal era, and hence can not be said that it is thousand years old.

We need to search for the option that actually established that the excavated bone flute is actually associated with neanderthals.
E does it wonderfully.
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