LSAT 105 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q25

LR Question 25 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: A clothing manufacturer reports that …

QUESTION TYPE: Paradox

PARADOX: All unsalable garments are recycled. Yet only 7% of garments are reported as unsalable, while 9% of garments are reported as recycled scrap.

ANALYSIS: The manufacturer says: Every unsalable garment gets recycled.

That suggests: Unsalable garments = Recycled scrap

But the reported numbers are: 7% unsalable ≠ 9% recycled scrap

Somehow, the amount of recycled scrap is larger than the amount of unsalable garments. We need an explanation for why the recycled percentage is higher.

There are two broad possibilities:

1. More than just unsalable garments are being counted as recycled. OR
2. The two percentages are being measured differently.

The second possibility is especially promising. If one figure is measured by number of garments and the other by weight, then the percentages aren’t directly comparable.

For example:

• 7% of garments by count could be very heavy winter coats.
• Those same garments could account for 9% of total production by weight.

That would completely resolve the paradox.

___________

1. This would make the percentage recycled smaller, not larger. It creates an even bigger discrepancy because fewer unsalable garments would be recycled.
2. This explains why some garments are unsalable, but those garments are already included in the 7% figure. It doesn’t explain why recycled scrap rises to 9%.
3. Overreporting defects would likely increase the reported percentage of unsalable garments, making it closer to 9% or even above it. It doesn’t explain why recycling exceeds unsalable garments.
4. A change in production levels doesn’t explain why, at one point in time, recycled scrap is reported at a higher percentage than unsalable garments.
5. CORRECT. Now the percentages are measuring different things. A small number of heavy garments could make up a much larger percentage by weight than by count, so 7% by count and 9% by weight can both be true.