During the construction of the Quebec Bridge in 1907,
the bridge’s designer, Theodore Cooper, received word
that the suspended span being built out from the
Bridge’s cantilever was deflecting downward by a
fraction of an inch [2.56 centimeters]. Before he could
telegraph to freeze the project, the whole cantilever arm
broke off and plunged, along with seven dozen workers,
into the St. Lawrence River. It was the worst bridge construction
disaster in history. As a direct result of the
inquiry that followed, the engineering “rules of thumb”
by which thousands of bridges had been built around the
world went down with the Quebec Bridge. Twentieth-
century bridge engineers would thereafter depend on far 25
more rigorous applications of mathematical analysis.
Which one of the following statements can be properly
inferred from the passage?
(A) Bridges built before about 1907 were built
without thorough mathematical analysis and,
therefore, were unsafe for the public to use.
(B) Cooper’s absence from the Quebec Bridge
construction site resulted in the breaking off
of the cantilever.
(C) Nineteenth-century bridge engineers relied
on their rules of thumb because analytical
methods were inadequate to solve their
design problems.
(D) Only a more rigorous application of mathematical
analysis to the design of the Quebec
Bridge could have prevented its collapse.
(E) Prior to 1907 the mathematical analysis incorporated
in engineering rules of thumb was
insufficient to completely assure the safety
of bridges under construction.
the bridge’s designer, Theodore Cooper, received word
that the suspended span being built out from the
Bridge’s cantilever was deflecting downward by a
fraction of an inch [2.56 centimeters]. Before he could
telegraph to freeze the project, the whole cantilever arm
broke off and plunged, along with seven dozen workers,
into the St. Lawrence River. It was the worst bridge construction
disaster in history. As a direct result of the
inquiry that followed, the engineering “rules of thumb”
by which thousands of bridges had been built around the
world went down with the Quebec Bridge. Twentieth-
century bridge engineers would thereafter depend on far 25
more rigorous applications of mathematical analysis.
Which one of the following statements can be properly
inferred from the passage?
(A) Bridges built before about 1907 were built
without thorough mathematical analysis and,
therefore, were unsafe for the public to use.
(B) Cooper’s absence from the Quebec Bridge
construction site resulted in the breaking off
of the cantilever.
(C) Nineteenth-century bridge engineers relied
on their rules of thumb because analytical
methods were inadequate to solve their
design problems.
(D) Only a more rigorous application of mathematical
analysis to the design of the Quebec
Bridge could have prevented its collapse.
(E) Prior to 1907 the mathematical analysis incorporated
in engineering rules of thumb was
insufficient to completely assure the safety
of bridges under construction.
