LR Question 13 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: The point about which the supervisor expresses…
QUESTION TYPE: Point at Issue
ARGUMENTS: The plant manager thinks that a new process could greatly reduce the amount of sulfur dioxide that is released. But the new process will cost a lot and won’t bring any profits.
The supervisor generally agrees but points out that the new furnaces are actually quite cheap to run.
ANALYSIS: The supervisor makes this easy for us. He has one point of disagreement. He thinks that the new furnace is cheaper to run.
He agrees with the conclusion however, and he doesn’t say anything about the other points made by the manager.
___________
- They both agree that the new process would release less sulfur dioxide.
- CORRECT. The plant manager thinks the new process is more expensive. The supervisor points out that new furnaces are actually quite cheap to run.
- The supervisor says that he agrees with the conclusion that the new process won’t bring profit. Technically neither of them say whether to adopt the new technology (e.g. for PR or legal reasons)
- The supervisor says the new process is more fuel efficient. The manager doesn’t express an opinion.
- The supervisor doesn’t express an opinion on this.
More Resources for Point at Issue Questions
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Point at Issue questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers point at issue questions.
I’m confused on this one. It seems like a big jump for you to say that the supervisor’s comment about closed furnaces being “extremely fuel efficient” is the same thing as being “cheap to run”. The new process isn’t just a new furnace being replaced, it’s a whole new process where the copper has to cool to solid and then reheated. Therefore even an extremely fuel efficient furnace could still not be cheaper at this specific process of reheating copper. Maybe it takes 5 times the energy to reheat than it used to, so even in a more efficient furnace it would be more expensive. Additionally, the new closed furnaces being extremely fuel efficient doesn’t rule out the fact that the old ones couldn’t also be extremely fuel efficient, as we are given no info to that fact.
The problem is my logic led me to no answers…
Good question! So you have to look at what the question is asking you to do. You seem to be answering “If the supervisor thinks it is cheaper, are they 100% correct no matter how you look at it?”
That’s not what the question wants from you. It is asking where they disagree. And if the supervisor says “I disagree about one thing” and then mentions a point about how little fuel costs, then they are disagreeing about the cost to run a furnace. You use fuel when running it, when you don’t run a furnace you aren’t using fuel.
What else could they be disagreeing about with that one point? Clearly, they think the lower fuel costs outweigh all the stuff about copper cooling and reheating that you cited. Whether they are right, I don’t know, but we just need to understand what they are trying to do.
I hope that helps!