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Question

Difficulty: HardIdentifying the Apparent Discrepancy

A recent municipal initiative in the city of Belmont provided heavy subsidies for homeowners to install high-efficiency solar panels. Within two years, over 60 percent of households adopted the panels, drastically reducing their reliance on the city's main electrical grid during daylight hours. However, the total amount of coal burned by the city's central power plant—its sole source of electricity generation—actually increased by 15 percent over the same two-year period.

The apparent logical discrepancy in this scenario is that the total amount of coal burned by the city's central power plant increased by 15 percent, even though the total amount of electricity consumed by Belmont households decreased over the same two-year period.

Answer: Answer

Answer

False
The statement is false because it mischaracterizes the given facts by shifting the scope. The stimulus explicitly states that reliance on the grid during daylight hours decreased, but it never states that total electricity consumption decreased. A correct identification of the apparent discrepancy must rely solely on the facts explicitly presented in the text.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus to identify the two explicitly stated conflicting facts.
Fact 1: Over 60 percent of households drastically reduced their reliance on the grid during daylight hours. Fact 2: The total amount of coal burned by the central power plant increased by 15 percent.
Isolating the precise factual premises is required to accurately identify the logical discrepancy without making outside assumptions.
2
Examine the proposed discrepancy statement for accuracy.
The statement claims the tension exists because total electricity consumed by households decreased while coal burned increased.
The proposed statement must perfectly match the facts provided in the stimulus to be correct.
3
Compare the facts in the proposed statement to the facts in the stimulus.
The stimulus discusses 'reliance on the main electrical grid during daylight hours', whereas the statement shifts the scope to 'total amount of electricity consumed'.
Identifying subtle scope shifts is critical for evaluating LSAT logical reasoning statements.

Key Concept

Identifying the Apparent Discrepancy
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Topics

Identifying the Apparent Discrepancy

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