Critical Reasoning

No mathematician today would flatly refuse to accept the results of an enormous computation as an adequate demonstration of the truth of a theorem. In 1976, however, this was not the case. Some mathematicians at that time refused to accept the results of a complex computer demonstration of a very simple mapping theorem. Although some mathematicians still hold a strong belief that a simple theorem ought to have a short, simple proof, in fact, some simple theorems have required enormous proofs.

If all of the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following must also be true?

(A) Today, some mathematicians who believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof would consider accepting the results of an enormous computation as a demonstration of the truth of a theorem.
(B) Some individuals who believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof are not mathematicians.
(C) Today, some individuals who refuse to accept the results of an enormous computation as a demonstration of the truth of a theorem believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof.
(D) Some individuals who do not believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof would not be willing to accept the results of an enormous computation as proof of a complex theorem.
(E) Some nonmathematicians do not believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof.

@ Aim where did u get this CR from?? i needed a cup of coffee after this.....

Tried my best and was left with A

important sentence is

No mathematician today would flatly refuse to accept the results of an enormous computation as an adequate demonstration of the truth of a theorem.

Hence A

Wow - yeah, great question here! This is as involved (if not more so) than anything I think you'd see on the GMAT and I think it may rely more on formal logic than a typical GMAT question, too, so I'd be surprised if this one didn't come from the LSAT.

The way I looked at this one, the premises ONLY tell us about mathematicians; we don't explicitly know anything about anyone else. So unless "some individuals" in B, C, and D include mathematicians as part of those groups, they won't work...they're already a little suspect to me. And E is out - we don't know anything about them.

B also focuses (in the second half) on non-mathematicians, so we don't know about them. Same with D.

C, at least to me, is a little tricky, but again it goes back to the fact that we don't know anything about non-mathematicians. And since "some who refuse to accept the results of an enormous computation" rules out (based on sentence 1 of the stimulus) all mathematicians, we don't know anything about anyone else and we can't prove C.

A is left, and it's a pretty nice paraphrase of the first sentence of the paragraph. We know that "no mathematician would not accept..." the complex results, so it's safe to say that some mathematicians who have a certain belief would consider accepting those results.

Great, I got A as well - although I thought my deeming 'non-mathematicians' as false answers felt odd.

Interestingly enough this is a real happening; it's in reference to the computer proof of the 4 color theorem that some people from UI put forth in the 1970s. Real life knowledge comes in handy!

Oh but yeah I agree that A is the only answer that makes any sense really.

Thanks Brian , yes you are absolutely right about the source , its from LSAT . I found this question really very intresting , its like solving a puzzle .


@force - You got it right buddy .


You guys nailed it

As Brian says, (A) is a nice rephrase of the first sentence of the passage. In an inference question if you see a choice that restates a part of the passage it is automatically correct.

Don't forget that one can use the Kaplan denial test in inference questions:

If (A) were false, would any part of the passage be contradicted? Well, if (A) were false--if, today, some mathematicians refused to accept computer-based proofs--then the first sentence of the passage would become false. Thus, (A) must be true, and actually if you verified (A) was correct using this test, you wouldn't actually have to look at the other choices.

Nice one AIM,woke me up completely from my semi sleep state. Bingo, im up for more time now
btw i did end up wth A.