LSAT 19, Logical Reasoning II, Q3, LSATHacks

LR Question 3 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: The number of calories in a gram of refined cane sugar…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Candy made from sugar doesn’t have any more calories than fruit with the same amount of fructose.

REASONING: Sugar and fructose have the same amount of calories per gram.

ANALYSIS: This is a bad argument, because both fruit and candy might have other ingredients that change how many calories they have.

___________

1. Non-caloric nutrients are irrelevant to the question of how many calories each food has.
2. The argument isn’t talking about all candy. It’s comparing candy to fruit made with the same amount of sugar as that particular piece of candy.
3. The stimulus clearly says “refined cane sugar” each time.
4. The argument isn’t circular. It gives evidence to support its conclusion: refined sugar and fructose have the same calories per gram.
5. CORRECT. Candy might have chocolate or many other ingredients. And fruit is not just a big lump of fructose; there are other sources of calories in fruit.

Recap: The question begins with “The number of calories in a gram of refined cane sugar”. It is a Flawed Reasoning question. Learn how to master LSAT Flaw questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.

Hi, I'm Graeme Blake

Founder of LSAThacks; I scored a 177 on the LSAT.

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