LSAT 134 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q18

LR Question 18 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Traffic engineers have increased the capacity of the…

QUESTION TYPE: Must Be True

FACTS: Financial Predicament Resolved ➞ traffic flow increased ➞ computer modeling investment. (F ➞ T ➞ CM)

ANALYSIS: This is a prime example of a question that’s worth diagramming. The stimulus is a collection of sufficient-necessary statements. I find it hard to keep track of what’s going on without a diagram to show how they all fit together. Sufficient conditions go on the left, and they lead to necessary conditions on the right. Investing in computer modeling software is therefore a necessary condition for fixing the city’s finances.

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1. The modeling package worked. But another modeling software package might also have worked just as well. The stimulus didn’t say which software was necessary.
2. CORRECT. Computer modeling was essential to increasing traffic flow, and increasing traffic flow was essential to fixing the city’s finances. ( CM ➞ T ➞ F )
3. Careful. The question was talking about rush hour traffic. This talks about all traffic. Maybe there is less traffic over the bridge during the rest of the day, due to better traffic management.
4. We don’t know what the mayor’s highest priority was. We only know computer modeling software was one of the city’s priorities.
5. We have no idea why the mayor wanted computer modeling technology. We know if helped traffic, but the mayor might have wanted it for another reason.