Question from prep #35, LR Forum

[soyeonjeon]

23. The higher the altitude, the thinner the air. Since Mexico City’s altitude is higher than that of Panama City, the air must be thinner in Mexico City than in Panama City.

(A) As one gets older one gets wiser. Since Henrietta is older than her daughter, Henrietta must be wiser than her daughter
(B) The most egg whites used and the longer they are beaten, the fluffier the meringue. Since Lydia used more egg white in her meringue than Joseph used in his, Lydia’s meringue must be fluffier than Joseph’s.
(C) The people who run the fastest

(D) The older a tree, the more rings it has. The tree in Lou’s yard is older than the tree in Theresa’s yard. Therefore, the tree in Lou’s yard must have more rings than does he tree in Theresa’s yard.

Why is the answer D rather than A?

I can only think that the reason A is incorrect is because of "get" which makes it incorrect. since the logic doesnt make sense. as one gets older one gets wider was the premise and (A) developed that logic into ...the older a person, the wiser a person.
Am I correct? thats too much to think within a minute and a half though.

[Br3v]

I don't like this question because it can easily be seen in another light than intended.

But A is wrong because we don't know that the lady and her daughter started at the same level of wisdom. So say Daughter started at let's say level 90 out 100 on the "wisdom scale", and the mother started at level 25 out of 100. Because they each get older, they each get wiser, but by what degree? The mother may get wiser from 25 to 75, the daughter could get wiser from only 90 to level 91. If we switch the original numbers around or play with how much more wisdom the two gain you can see how this example is focussing the rate of wisdom gained rather than overall wisdom.

The trees, say that if a tree is older, then it has more rings. That's the rule. At first it's easy to think well maybe different trees grow rings at different rates (raising the mother/daughter problem) but if wel look at the rule "if the tree is older, it has more rings" then it doesn't matter about the type of tree, where it's growing, or of your rubbing anti aging cream on it. IF its older, it HAS more rings.

Hope this helps.

[michelleville]

This is a tough one. It's clearly between A and D; I just wrote the test a few days ago and my reasoning for D is that it is a better analogy than A because tree rings and the thinness of the air are both quantifiable, whereas wisdom is not. I don't think 'get' plays into it at all. HTH.

[burtlantin]

I always felt that (A) was wrong because the rule can't be applied to two separate people -- the rule says "as one gets older", right? So (A) is flawed because it applies the rule incorrectly by concluding something about the mother vs. the daughter. The stimulus isn't flawed, it seems like a pretty good argument to me.

[Ruxin1]

A is wrong because yes the mother has more time to become wiser but think of it in terms of IQ. The daughter could start out a 150 IQ and gain only 2 points. The mother could start off at 70 and through years gain 30 points but still be less wise than the daughter.

[Manhattan LSAT Noah]

tricky one. I think ruxin has a good take on it. I just got into it again on our explanation bank with someone else. Feel free to read that conversation too - http://www.manhattanlsat.com/forums/section-4-f527.html (actually, it looks like there are two discussions of it there...)