Passage Discussion

[dan]

Here's a solution to Passage 4 attached below. Let me know if you have any questions!

[fyami001]

Hello!
In the passage for paragraph three, I had trouble comprehending/ coming up with an accurate summary for that section. I'm not seeing how we can be expected to connect the problems with natural formations to experiments that are valid but cannot be replicated. Its not explicit at all, and since it is implicit I'm wondering at what point in my reading can I make this connection?

Thanks!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

I would suggest that the implicit nature of the connection is the due to the fact that the passage is using a metaphor of a geographical basin to explain the complexity of scientific experiments. The first paragraph makes the connection between the system conceived by Sommerer and Ott and scientific experiments quite clear. And in paragraphs 1 and 3 I think the passage makes it quite clear that because of the subtle changes everywhere in the system, it would be impossible to recreate the exact same outcome each time you conduct an experiment.

The strongest claims that the experiments would be valid but could not be replicated comes from the following lines:

lines 5-8
lines 23-25
lines 31-36
lines 52-57

With the most explicitly stated impact on experimental results being lines 52-57.

I don't think you have to worry so much about trying to understand implicit claims so much. There are a few questions that will test this, but this is not a fundamental skill tested in the Reading Comprehension section.

[judaydaday]

Okay. I'm having a lot of trouble seeing the idea that the starting point is impossible to re-create and this concept seems to guide two correct answer choices for this passage. Could someone please clear this up for me?

I get that the start point MIGHT be hard to re-create, but nowhere do I find evidence that it's impossible. Lines 5-6 states "in which even the least change in the starting conditions [...] can alter results radically." My interpretation of this line is that small changes in the starting point can have a major impact, by way of "riddled basins," on the results - not that the starting point is impossible to recreate.

Also, I don't see how the following paragraphs support this point either. For example, lines 24-26 - " it is sometimes impossible to predict, not only the exact destination of the spilled water, but even which body of water it will end up in..." This seems to refer only to the uncertainty of predicting the path or destination, NOT the impossiblity of recreating the experiment starting conditions.

Further, this is exactly the case in the fourth paragraph which states, in line 40-41, that "it is impossible to predict even the general destination [...] given its starting point."

So, in this sense, where is the support of question 24? That "it is sometimes impossible to re-create exactly the starting conditions..." This seems to be contradicted by lines 40-41 where the passage presumes a starting point.

Lastly, where is the support for question 28? The correct answer states..."impossible to bring about starting conditions that are in fact exactly the same..."

[emily315]

Same,
This pasage is so hard.
I don't understand the all starting condition thing. Where in the passage it says that starting condition is the same or different? Why scientist cant create the same condition each time they do experiment? dont understand.
and isn't the model, the sommerer and Ott model, the same thing with the riddled basin of attraction? How are these two thing different?
___________
got it now....after seeing the explanation in question 28....helps a lot......
still so hard.......
who would notice that sentence anyway.....