Q12 - Most adults in Country X

[mharr]

I selected answer choice e.) thinking that if adults lost weight (fat) as they became older, that would explain why the percentage of fat in a person's diet stays the same (because they burned off excess fat they gained as a result of consuming more fat as they got older).

I think one of the main reasons why I got this answer wrong was because I approached it like a resolve the paradox question (who knows why I did that lol).

I do not understand why b.) is correct. Can someone provide an answer, please?

Thank you.

[ohthatpatrick]

Your instincts are actually on point. Even though this is an Inference question, many Inference questions (quantitative ones in particular) act like mathematical resolve the paradox questions.

When Inference questions give you a pair of facts separated by but/yet/however, they are essentially creating tension between two statements that seem in opposition.

Since we're supposed to accept both statements as true, the Inference the question is testing is the way we can resolve the tension between the two statements.

Let's say I told you that what I was paying for rent each year was increasing:

Last year - $12000
This year - $13000
Next year - $14000

But then I told you that in all three years, what I pay for rent will be 10% of my yearly income. (the percentage of income I spend on rent is the same each year)

What does that tell you about my yearly income last year, this year, and next year?

$12000 is 10% of $120,000, so last year my income was $120k.
$13000 is 10% of $130,000, so this year my income is $130k.
$14000 is 10% of $140,000, so next year my income will be $140k.

This is the same thing as what's being described in Q12.

If an increasing amount ends up being an identical percentage of some total, then the total must also be increasing (in the exact same proportion).

This is totally math-y, which really irritates some students who never liked (or have since forgotten) math. But you should expect one or two questions per test to involve a little math (generally stuff like the equation for profit / probability / percentages vs. numbers).

And when you see an Inference question is giving you quantitative information, the Inference is normally a mathematical one.

So (B) just echoes what we were saying before. Since increasing amounts of fat are representing a steady percentage of overall diet, the amount of the overall diet must be increasing in tandem with the increasing amount of fat.

== wrong answers ==

(A) 'other countries' is the dead give-away that this is out of scope.
(C) we only received information about adults, so comparing them to 'children' is hopeless. we can't prove anything about children since we received no information about them.
(D) the 'variety' of foods is out of scope, since we have no information about people's diets other than amount of fat and percentage of fat.
(E) we have no idea whether the adults lose/gain weight or stay the same. we're only getting information about how much fat they eat and what percentage of their whole diet that fat represents. the adults could be eating more fat, getting no exercise, and gaining weight. They could be eating more fat, getting tons of exercise, and losing weight. Who knows? Can't prove it.

Hope this helps.

[mharr]

Thank you, OhthatPatrick! Your explanation is awesome and is extremely helpful. I understand now and learned something different too. I have been self-studying using the PowerScores books and even though they do a good job of classifying question types, they tend to lump different question types (such as "most supported"and "inferences") under one question type (must be true). That is not very helpful since each question type requires a different approach. Your explanation taught me that I need to have a different approach for these question types.

Thank you again!