The young orchestral conductor Sabado Domingo is a true prod

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The young orchestral conductor Sabado Domingo is a true prodigy, able to recognize when any single instrument in his orchestra is even a bit out of tune. In a recent test, an orchestra played a hundred selections from different well-known classical pieces; in approximately half of the selections, exactly one instrument would be played slightly out of tune. In every instance in which an instrument was played out of tune, Domingo pointed out that the orchestra was out of tune, and correctly identified the instrument at fault.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the conclusion of the argument above?

(A) During the test, the orchestra was arranged in a traditional arrangement, similar to the arrangement in which they would be seated in a classical concert.
(B) Domingo did not mistakenly label any of the orchestra's in-tune performances as out of tune.
(C) Many of the musicians who intentionally played out of tune as part of the test have played perfectly in tune in every concert for the last ten years.
(D) The instruments played out of tune were all played at a pitch exactly one half-step lower than the true pitch.
(E) Because the test was performed in an empty concert hall, the acoustics of the concert hall differed somewhat from those of a concert hall populated by an audience.

OA B

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by Ian Stewart » Mon Aug 19, 2019 8:29 am

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I don't think it's clear even what "the conclusion" of the argument is, as the stem is worded. It seems to have two conclusions. Is the conclusion that Domingo is "a true prodigy"? Or is the conclusion that he can recognize when an instrument is "even a bit out of tune"? If it's the former, we'd be looking for an answer that connects being "a true prodigy" with "recognizing when an instrument is out of tune", because there's no logical relationship between those two things. But from the answer choices, it's clear they intend the conclusion to be the latter: Domingo can tell when an instrument is out of tune. We know from the stem that he succeeded in half of the experiments, recognizing when one instrument was out of tune. We don't know, from the stem, what happened during the other half of the experiments, when all of the instruments were in tune. If we're trying to support the claim that Domingo can tell when things are in tune and when they're not, we'd like to know that he passed the test when everything was in tune too. That's what answer B tells us.
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