People who live unusually long tend to have been

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Answer will follow:

People who live unusually long tend to have been lean young adults who went on to gain approximately one pound every year, so lean young adults can improve their chances of living a long life by gaining about a pound every year.
A flaw in the argument above is that it
(A) gives reasons for the truth of its conclusion that presuppose the truth of that conclusion
(B) proceeds as though a condition that by itself is enough to guarantee a certain result must always be present for that result to be achieved
(C) assumes without proof that two phenomena that occur together share an underlying cause
(D) concludes that one phenomenon is the cause of another when at most what has been established is an association between them
(E) fails to recognize that a tendency widely shared by a subgroup within a given population will not necessarily be widely shared by that population as a whole
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by dmateer25 » Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:37 am
The stimulus states that lean young adults can improve their chances of living by gaining about a pound a year.

Cause: gain a pound a year
Effect: improve chances of living longer

The stimulus claims this cause and effect relationship without any proof.

D is the only answer choice that states this. So IMO the answer is D.

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by hariharakarthi » Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:55 am
A. Circular reasoning Ans Choice. But, the argument does not state the same. Premise supports the conclusion, but, the conclusion does not support the premise. Hence,it is incorrect.
Premise and Conclusion are not identical in meaning.
B. It is not a conditional argument. This ans choice explains the error of conditional reasoning.
C.Another cause caused the state cause and effect. Here, the two phenomenon not occurring together. Gaining weight & Long living are not occurring at the same time. Hence, it is incorrect.
D. Assumes a casual relationship when only a correlation exits. IMO Correct answer.

E. Another familiar ans choice that tend to be correct. But, if we read closely it we can infer that it is incorrect. Argument states about the sub-grp (People who live long) and refer to again sub-grp (lean young adults). But, the ans choice states that "will not be share by the population as a whole" Hence it is also incorrect.

Hence, the correct ans is D.

OA, please..

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Karthi S

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by maihuna » Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:03 am
OA is between A and D. Can you plesse further elaborate option A.

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by maihuna » Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:03 am
got ur point. OA is D only. thanks

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by vishalwin » Mon Sep 21, 2015 7:19 am
why not option B here? can anyone please explain.