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Question

Difficulty: MediumSufficient Assumption

Agricultural Scientist: Any commercial crop that requires continuous subsoil moisture during germination will suffer widespread yield failure when planted in arid regions lacking automated irrigation infrastructure. Field trials demonstrate that the newly bred sorghum variety S-29 does not suffer widespread yield failure when planted in arid regions lacking automated irrigation infrastructure. Thus, sorghum variety S-29 is well suited for cultivation by dryland subsistence farmers.

The agricultural scientist's conclusion follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

  1. A
    Any commercial crop that is well suited for cultivation by dryland subsistence farmers does not require continuous subsoil moisture during germination.
  2. B
    Sorghum variety S-29 does not require continuous subsoil moisture during its germination phase.
  3. Any commercial crop that does not require continuous subsoil moisture during germination is well suited for cultivation by dryland subsistence farmers.Answer
  4. D
    Dryland subsistence farmers only cultivate crops that avoid widespread yield failure in arid regions lacking automated irrigation infrastructure.
  5. E
    No crop requiring automated irrigation infrastructure can ever be successfully harvested by dryland subsistence farmers.

Answer

Any commercial crop that does not require continuous subsoil moisture during germination is well suited for cultivation by dryland subsistence farmers.
The argument provides a conditional premise: requiring continuous subsoil moisture leads to widespread yield failure in non-irrigated arid regions. Since sorghum variety S-29 does not suffer widespread yield failure in these regions, the contrapositive establishes that variety S-29 does not require continuous subsoil moisture during germination. The correct answer provides the exact universal premise needed to complete the syllogism: if any crop that does not require continuous subsoil moisture is well suited for cultivation by dryland subsistence farmers, then sorghum variety S-29 must be well suited for cultivation by those farmers.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the premises and identify any intermediate deductive inferences.
Premise 1 states that requiring continuous subsoil moisture during germination guarantees widespread yield failure in non-irrigated arid regions. Premise 2 states that sorghum variety S-29 does not suffer widespread yield failure in non-irrigated arid regions. By contrapositive, sorghum variety S-29 does not require continuous subsoil moisture during germination.
Deconstructing the formal logic reveals what has already been proven versus what remains unproven.
2
Identify the logical gap between the intermediate deduction and the conclusion.
The intermediate deduction establishes that sorghum variety S-29 lacks the requirement for continuous subsoil moisture, but the conclusion claims it is well suited for cultivation by dryland subsistence farmers.
A sufficient assumption must provide a 100% airtight bridge linking the established trait to the new term in the conclusion.
3
Evaluate the answer choices for a sufficient conditional bridge.
The statement specifying that any commercial crop not requiring continuous subsoil moisture during germination is well suited for cultivation by dryland subsistence farmers connects the intermediate fact directly to the conclusion.
Connecting 'no requirement for continuous subsoil moisture' to 'well suited for cultivation by dryland subsistence farmers' deductively guarantees the conclusion.

Key Concept

Sufficient Assumption Deductive Linkage
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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Topics

Sufficient Assumption

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