Critical Reasoning

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.
(8) 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.
(e) 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.

Can any one please tell me whats wrong in B??

armaan700+ 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.
(8) 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.
(e) 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.

Can any one please tell me whats wrong in B??

the evidence of the argument is the fact that a bone flute excavated at a Neanderthal campsite is just what is required to play the third through sixth notes and then we miss some notes

the conclusion of the argument is that Musicologists therefore hypothesize that the diatonic musical scale was developed and used thousands of years before it was adopted by Western musicians.

E strenghten the conclusion of argument because saying that "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" it means that the cave-bera leg bone could be used to play all the notes of the diatonic scale and not only the notes from 3rd to 6th.

B says nothing about whether Neanderthals could've invented the scale. It just says no one BEFORE them invented it, which is not what we're after.

B is wrong because it states that no earlier instrument using the diatonic scale has been used. This is one of those things that is true but irrelevant. The argument states that the use of instruments that incorporated the diatonic scale have been in existence earlier than previously thought, just knowing that no instrument has been found earlier than the neanderthal flute, does not do anything to the hypothesis that this instrument used the diatonic scale and wasn't just a coincidence.

Choice B is "No musical instrument that is known to have used a diatonic scale is of an earlier date than the flute found",
even if this is true it does no good to the conclusion. If there was an older musical instrument than flute it doesn't influence the outcome
"the diatonic musical scale was developed and used thousands of years before it was adopted by Western musicians."
I am a bit undecided between D and E but I will opt for E since it supports the fact that the flute is long enough to support the diatonic scale.

I go with E - it directly strengthens the conclusion by showing that the diatonic scale could have been used years before Western musicians.

Although I think E is correct, I would like to learn why B is wrong - what is the trap??

E.

B isn't correct because it doesn't support the musicologists' hypothesis that the diatonic musical scale
was developed and used thousands of years before it was adopted by Western musicians.

Who cares if the flute found at the campsite was the earliest instrument to use the diatonic scale? It doesn't necessarily mean that Neanderthals developed the scale.

The CR is constructed in a simple way one premise leading to one conclusion.

Now anything that could be an answer should try to bridge the gap that has been created by the author between the premise and the conclusion.

P1. The spacing is just enough to play 3 to 6 notes.

Conclusion. So the diatonic musical scale was first developed thousands of years before Western musicians.

The spacing is enough by itself doesn't state that the instrument had been used to play the tones cited. We need something to strengthen this claim.

B - would have been an answer if the conclusion had been Neanderthals used it for the first time. But it is not strengthening this conclusion.

I find E better than others, because by citing at the plausibility of the length of the bone, it is strengthening the claim that the instrument was especially made to play the 3 to 6 tones of diatonic music.

E for sure.

The point is: Musicologists didn't know when the scale was invented... now they know that it must have been at a certain time.
Musicologists WOULD NOT know whether it is the earliest because that bone was the earliest that they EXPLORED but its too much to say that it is THE EARLIEST, period. Therefore B is wrong. Also dont forget that the argument is about SCALE not about flute itself.
WHAT IF THERE WAS A DIFFERENT SCALE? WHAT IF IT WAS 5 TONE SCALE???
In E we know that the bone was long enough for the scale we are looking for. E it is.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmat-cr-t10184.html

great explanation btw. It is useful to google questions before creating new topics.

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.
(8) 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.
(e) 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.



Premise:

The spacing in the "fragment" of the bone flute "excavated at Neanderthal site"is just what is required to play third to sixth note of a seven note diatonic scale.

Note: Why the word fragment is used. In CR Premise, it is very important to note why each word is used.

Conclusion:

Diatonic Scale was developed and used thousand years before it was used by Western Musicians.


Stem: Strengthen the Conclusion.


Prephrasing:

1. Neanderthal period occured more than a thousand years ago. Though it seems obvious, it was never mentioned in the argument, so dont assume.
2. Part of the flute "fragment" can play some notes means that the complete flute would have been able to play the complete diatonic scale i.e. all notes, since there was emphasis on 3-6 notes in the premise.

Cannot find any more prephrasing. But I emphasize that prephrasing is really important, not to avoid usage of PoE, but to confidently eliminate the woring answer choices.

PoE:

(A) Bone flutes were probably the only musical instrument made by Neanderthals.

"only" the word to be wary of like "all", "most". Anyways, let bone flutes be the only musical instrument, think whether it strenghtens that diatonic scale was used 1000 years ago. No. keep the conclusion always at the back of the mind when going through answer options. You can refer the argument for premises, not conclusion. If conclusion is not clear then there is no point in going through answer options.


(8) 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.

"No" again a word to be wary of. Anyways, does this strenghten?. We just wanted a proof to say that it was used thousand years ago. If no other musical instrument is found, flute is still there. But by saying no other instrument is found. Does it strengthen. It was on the verge of weakening, had it not mentioned flute being able to play diatonic.


(e) 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.

How does it matter whether the flute was made from cave bear bone or where it was found. We just want something to bolster the conclusion that "Diatonic was present". Was it flute or what the flute is made of does not matter.


(D) Flutes are the simplest wind instrument that can be constructed to allow playing a diatonic scale.

Again one should be wary of the words ending with "est" in the answer choice. However, it does not matter in "Which of the following, if true" questions, because you just take the choices as true. Moving on, do u see a connection between this statement and the diatonic being used 1000 years ago. Do not assume that since flutes are simplest then Neanderthals being so progressed will use only simple instruments. Even if that is true. Does it make a link to our conclusion.


(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.

Now this says that the bone would have been long enough to play a flute playing the whole diaatonic scale. This matches with one of the prephrases (the second). Since no other options other than this one matches with any of the possibel assumptions we have made, this is the best option. This proves that the diatonic scale would have been played during Neanderthal time, (thousand years ago has to be assumed as there is no other option.