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Difficulty: MediumNecessary Assumption

Argument: The new Z-100 electric vehicle has a maximum battery range of 400 miles per charge, which is 100 miles greater than the range of any other electric vehicle currently on the market. Based on this significant advantage, industry analysts conclude that the Z-100 will become the top-selling electric vehicle next year.

Statement: A logically necessary assumption of this argument is that consumers consider battery range to be the only important factor when deciding which electric vehicle to purchase.

Answer: Answer

Answer

The statement is False because the proposed assumption uses extreme language that makes it sufficient to prove the conclusion, but it is not strictly necessary for the argument to survive.
The statement is false because it provides a sufficient assumption rather than a necessary one. A necessary assumption would be much milder, such as 'The Z-100 is not prohibitively expensive compared to other electric vehicles.' The extreme word 'only' makes the statement too strong to be an absolute requirement of the argument.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the structure of the argument.
Premise: The Z-100 has a significant 100-mile range advantage over competitors. Conclusion: The Z-100 will be the top-selling electric vehicle next year.
Identifying the premise and conclusion is required to spot the logical gap in the reasoning.
2
Identify the logical gap.
The author jumps from a single competitive advantage (range) to absolute market dominance (top-selling), ignoring other factors that influence sales.
Understanding the flaw helps distinguish between what would fix the argument (sufficient) and what the argument absolutely depends on (necessary).
3
Evaluate the provided statement using the Negation Test.
Negated statement: 'Consumers do NOT consider battery range to be the ONLY important factor' (meaning other factors also matter).
The Negation Test is the definitive method for proving if an assumption is logically necessary.
4
Determine if the negated statement destroys the conclusion.
It does not. Even if consumers care about price and safety in addition to range, the Z-100 could still be the top seller. Therefore, the original extreme statement is not required.
Because the conclusion survives the negation of the statement, the statement is not a necessary assumption.

Key Concept

Applying the Negation Test and distinguishing between Necessary and Sufficient assumptions.
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Topics

Necessary Assumption

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