LSAT 123 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q22

QUESTION TEXT: If the price it pays for coffee coffee beans continues…

QUESTION TYPE: Must be True

FACTS:

1. This is a two pronged chain of reasoning, so I’ve made a diagram for it:

PB = price of beans

PC = price of coffee

NC = non coffee

CS = coffee sales

PR = profits

ANALYSIS: Once you draw the diagram, it becomes clear that if the price of beans goes up, then profits will go down. That’s correctly reading the diagram from left to right.

Wrong answers will either read right to left, or assume that one of the two prongs must happen (instead of the other prong).

Note that this diagram matches how I draw my own: with one or two letters.

___________

1. This goes from necessary to sufficient. You can only go from sufficient (left) to necessary (right).
    
   This ignores that there are other reasons profitability could decrease. A frivolous lawsuit, for example.
2. This is just like A. It goes backwards from necessary to sufficient. This ignores that there are other reasons profitability could decrease. Mafia extortion, for example.
3. CORRECT. This flows from sufficient to necessary on the diagram above.
4. This makes no sense. Normally, if the price of coffee beans goes up, then profits go down. That makes sense: if your costs go up, you have less profits.
    
   This answer says: if your costs go down, your profits shrink. Why would that happen? In any case, this isn’t supported by the diagram.
5. This doesn’t follow. An increase in the coffee bean price decreases sales. But that doesn’t mean that sales will increase if bean prices stay the same. Sales could simply stay the same as well.