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Pencil leads

by fibbonnaci » Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:47 am
Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite mined in Cumberland, in Britain. Modern methods of manufacturing pencil leads from powdered graphite are the result of research sponsored by the government of France in the 1790s, when France was at war with Britain and thus had no access to Cumberland graphite.

The information above most strongly supports which one of the following?

(A) The world's only deposit of graphite suitable for manufacture of pencils is in Cumberland, in Britain.

(B) In the 1790s, France's government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France's need for pencils.

(C) One of the causes of war between France and Britain in the 1790s was the British government's attempt to limit the amount of Cumberland graphite being exported to France.

(D) Government-sponsored research frequently gives rise to inventions that are of great benefit to society.

(E) Even today, all pencil leads contain Cumberland graphite.

OA- B
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by gauravgundal » Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:47 am
This is a inference type question:
IMO B
Argument
PR1 : Early pencils lead = solid graphite ->(Cumberland)
PR2 : Modern methods pc leads = pow graphite (France)<- Research spo. by the france gov.

A: Out of scope ;No where in the passage it is mentioned that deposit of grap is only found in Britain.
B:
C: NO where in the argument itis mentioned that war has caused something
D: Yes,It is mentioned that governmetn -spo research give rie to inventions --but nothing mentioned that inventions benefit to society and also due to the ke word frequently.
E: nothing is metoned in the argumetn that all pencile leads contain cumberland graphit ,though modern methiods are using something else
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by thephoenix » Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:23 am
fibbonnaci wrote:Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite mined in Cumberland, in Britain. Modern methods of manufacturing pencil leads from powdered graphite are the result of research sponsored by the government of France in the 1790s, when France was at war with Britain and thus had no access to Cumberland graphite.

The information above most strongly supports which one of the following?

(A) The world's only deposit of graphite suitable for manufacture of pencils is in Cumberland, in Britain.

(B) In the 1790s, France's government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France's need for pencils.

(C) One of the causes of war between France and Britain in the 1790s was the British government's attempt to limit the amount of Cumberland graphite being exported to France.

(D) Government-sponsored research frequently gives rise to inventions that are of great benefit to society.

(E) Even today, all pencil leads contain Cumberland graphite.

OA- B
for me its a tough call b/n A and B.......
i ruled out A for only deposit of graphite suitable .....only is an extreme
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by gmatmachoman » Fri Mar 12, 2010 2:47 am
fibbonnaci wrote:Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite mined in Cumberland, in Britain. Modern methods of manufacturing pencil leads from powdered graphite are the result of research sponsored by the government of France in the 1790s, when France was at war with Britain and thus had no access to Cumberland graphite.

The information above most strongly supports which one of the following?


(B) In the 1790s, France's government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France's need for pencils.



OA- B
Let us try to dissect few points over here. Logically speaking I am not agreeing with OA as B
How do we Know that France's government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France's need for pencils.???

It could be like , French people would have known some other place, but it could have been "NOT feasible" to import them based on its quality or cost requirements. And since becox they wanted the best product, they wet to British people.And now British imposed restrictions.So french went for research!

Saying it , France goverment don't know any other source is very much "way out of the details mentioned in the argument".

SO no answer fits the bill!!
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by Phirozz » Fri Mar 12, 2010 3:19 am
fibbonnaci wrote:Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite mined in Cumberland, in Britain. Modern methods of manufacturing pencil leads from powdered graphite are the result of research sponsored by the government of France in the 1790s, when France was at war with Britain and thus had no access to Cumberland graphite.

The information above most strongly supports which one of the following?

(A) The world's only deposit of graphite suitable for manufacture of pencils is in Cumberland, in Britain.

(B) In the 1790s, France's government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France's need for pencils.

(C) One of the causes of war between France and Britain in the 1790s was the British government's attempt to limit the amount of Cumberland graphite being exported to France.

(D) Government-sponsored research frequently gives rise to inventions that are of great benefit to society.

(E) Even today, all pencil leads contain Cumberland graphite.

OA- B
though not completely satisfied with ans, by POE its definitely B.
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by mohit11 » Fri Mar 12, 2010 8:27 am
Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite mined in Cumberland, in Britain. Modern methods of manufacturing pencil leads from powdered graphite are the result of research sponsored by the government of France in the 1790s, when France was at war with Britain and thus had no access to Cumberland graphite.


B by POE, Though i am not convinced.

(B) In the 1790s, France's government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France's need for pencils. (it is possible that they did know about accessible source but did not get graphite from those sources for some or the other reason) .. anyway, given the options

Early pencil leads were made of solid graphite mined in Cumberland, in Britain. Modern methods of manufacturing pencil leads from powdered graphite are the result of research sponsored by the government of France in the 1790s, when France was at war with Britain and thus had no access to Cumberland graphite.

The information above most strongly supports which one of the following?

(A) The world's only deposit of graphite suitable for manufacture of pencils is in Cumberland, in Britain. - ONLY DEPOSIT.. there could have been other deposits.. so OUT

(B) In the 1790s, France's government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France's need for pencils.

(C) One of the causes of war between France and Britain in the 1790s was the British government's attempt to limit the amount of Cumberland graphite being exported to France. - Stimulus never says anything like that...OUT

(D) Government-sponsored research frequently gives rise to inventions that are of great benefit to society. - Too broad, goes outside the scope. .OUT


(E) Even today, all pencil leads contain Cumberland graphite. Stimulus never says anything about the current scenario
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by gmatmachoman » Fri Mar 12, 2010 11:11 am
mohit11 wrote: B by POE, Though i am not convinced.

(B) In the 1790s, France's government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France's need for pencils. (it is possible that they did know about accessible source but did not get graphite from those sources for some or the other reason) .. anyway, given the options

@Fibo....

U need to pitch to resolve this"paradox"..Mohit also is affirmative on this..

Sometimes I doubt myself,am i really interpreting the stem properly.But Now I am bit bit confident that I am Ok sort of!!

Anyways...all said & done....Luck needs to favour us!!
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by harshavardhanc » Fri Mar 12, 2010 1:51 pm
gmatmachoman wrote:
mohit11 wrote: B by POE, Though i am not convinced.

(B) In the 1790s, France's government did not know of any accessible source of solid graphite appropriate to meet France's need for pencils. (it is possible that they did know about accessible source but did not get graphite from those sources for some or the other reason) .. anyway, given the options

@Fibo....

U need to pitch to resolve this"paradox"..Mohit also is affirmative on this..

Sometimes I doubt myself,am i really interpreting the stem properly.But Now I am bit bit confident that I am Ok sort of!!

Anyways...all said & done....Luck needs to favour us!!
agree... B is better among the worst, that's why NEEDS to be picked.
Regards,
Harsha
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by fibbonnaci » Sat Mar 13, 2010 12:02 pm
@gmatmachoman,
I agree with your reasoning.
I also accept that subtle assumption that quality and costs of graphite at all accesible places is the same- is required to bring this option correctly.
But some higher end questions just do not let you find the answer straight, peeping at you. If the assumption that i have stated is given and the answer choice worded just as we thought, then it would be a 500 level question isnt it?

I agree this choice can be reached only by POE. But i specifically posted this question here coz A lays a nice trap for ppl. You need some basics of elimination to reject A and go for B(the seemingly best one!) This trap makes this question a hard contender.

PS: This is an official LSAT question picked up from the test sets.
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by gmatmachoman » Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:12 pm
fibbonnaci wrote:@gmatmachoman,
I agree with your reasoning.
I also accept that subtle assumption that quality and costs of graphite at all accesible places is the same- is required to bring this option correctly.
But some higher end questions just do not let you find the answer straight, peeping at you. If the assumption that i have stated is given and the answer choice worded just as we thought, then it would be a 500 level question isnt it?

I agree this choice can be reached only by POE. But i specifically posted this question here coz A lays a nice trap for ppl. You need some basics of elimination to reject A and go for B(the seemingly best one!) This trap makes this question a hard contender.

PS: This is an official LSAT question picked up from the test sets.
@Fibo..

Thx for the insightful reasoning!
Yeah when i was skimming thru the CR i had a doubt whether it was from LSAT or not..becox the wordings are more of frm LSAT based ones!
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by atrayee345 » Wed Dec 19, 2018 3:19 am
France being at war with Britain had no access to Cumberland mine which made them look for other sources of pencil lead. Choice B strongly supports the argument as it would be the only reason why France government would sponsor such a research.
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