Question about the use of "generally" and PowerscoreLR Book Forum

[LSATdecember2012man]

I got two questions:

1. Is the use of "generally" equivilant to the use of "some"? Also, Why does often/frequently mean "some"? Does tends mean most?

2. The 4th chapter question for the powerscore LSAT LR Bible Must be True section, the one about increasing complexity of scientific inquiry has led to a proliferation of multiauthored technical articles. Could someone explain it to me? their explaination makes no sense to me. I have the hardest time understanding why C is wrong, but i struggle with the question in general.
Its the October 2000 exam, section 4 LR question 24

[Grond]

I got two questions:

1. Is the use of "generally" equivilant to the use of "some"? Also, Why does often/frequently mean "some"? Does tends mean most?

2. The 4th chapter question for the powerscore LSAT LR Bible Must be True section, the one about increasing complexity of scientific inquiry has led to a proliferation of multiauthored technical articles. Could someone explain it to me? their explaination makes no sense to me. I have the hardest time understanding why C is wrong, but i struggle with the question in general.
Its the October 2000 exam, section 4 LR question 24

Maybe you should ask the guy who wrote the book: http://forum.powerscore.com/lsat/

[sighsigh]

Some good questions, OP.

Most is >50%. You could also define most as "more likely than not." It is reasonable to believe that if something is 'generally' true, then it is more likely than not true. Similarly, it is reasonable to believe that if something 'tends' to be true, then it is more likely than not true. And so, generally = most. And tend = most.

But "often" and "frequently" do not necessarily mean more likely than not. Something can happen often, or happen frequently, and still happen less than half the time (or exactly half the time). Babies frequently cry, but they do not spend more time crying than not. It is also reasonable to believe that often and frequently refer to more than a single instance. If babies frequently cry throughout the day, then they are crying more than once throughout the day. So often = many. And frequently = many.

As for PT#32, S#4, Q#24:

(1) Usually report of clinical trials involving patients from several hospitals => authors from physicians from each participating hospital.
(2) Reports of experiment results using subsystems from various laboratories => authors from each laboratory.

So (B), the correct answer, basically repeats (1) word-for-word.

(C) is: multiple authors => different institutions. You can't infer this from either (1) or (2). If you are looking at (C) as a contender, you may be incorrectly switching around the necessary and sufficient terms of (1) or (2).

[LSATdecember2012man]

Some good questions, OP.

Most is >50%. You could also define most as "more likely than not." It is reasonable to believe that if something is 'generally' true, then it is more likely than not true. Similarly, it is reasonable to believe that if something 'tends' to be true, then it is more likely than not true. And so, generally = most. And tend = most.

But "often" and "frequently" do not necessarily mean more likely than not. Something can happen often, or happen frequently, and still happen less than half the time (or exactly half the time). Babies frequently cry, but they do not spend more time crying than not. It is also reasonable to believe that often and frequently refer to more than a single instance. If babies frequently cry throughout the day, then they are crying more than once throughout the day. So often = many. And frequently = many.

As for PT#32, S#4, Q#24:

(1) Usually report of clinical trials involving patients from several hospitals => authors from physicians from each participating hospital.
(2) Reports of experiment results using subsystems from various laboratories => authors from each laboratory.

So (B), the correct answer, basically repeats (1) word-for-word.

(C) is: multiple authors => different institutions. You can't infer this from either (1) or (2). If you are looking at (C) as a contender, you may be incorrectly switching around the necessary and sufficient terms of (1) or (2).

you're awesome. so C is a reversal without negation so its invalid
If C stated "when a technical article is from different institutions, the article has multiple authors" It's STILL wrong, correct? becuase it's too strong of wording.
What about Most? that's still too strong because they only gave two examples and just stated theres a proliferation of multiauthored technical articles, which you can't really say "most".
But if you say there's some technical articles from different instiutions has multiple authors, that's correct.

correct?

[sighsigh]

My initial explanation of why (C) was wrong wasn't very good. It was late at night. Here's a much better one.

In a more abstract form, (1) and (2) both state:

For some technical articles with assets from different institutions => the authors of those articles are from different institutions

(C), however, is stating:

For most technical articles with multiple authors => the authors of those articles are from different institutions

So, there are two jumps made here (in bold):
(a) some => most
(b) assets from different institutions => multiple authors

You can't make those jumps. That is why (C) is wrong.

But if you say there's some technical articles from different instiutions has multiple authors, that's correct.

Yep, you can definitely infer this from (1) or (2).