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abhasjha

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Until recently it was thought that ink used before the sixteenth century did not

contain titanium. However, a new type of analysis detected titanium in the ink of

the famous Bible printed by Johannes Gutenberg and in that of another fifteenthcentury

Bible known as B-36, though not in the ink of any of numerous other

fifteenth-century books analyzed. This finding is of great significance, since it not

only strongly supports the hypothesis that B-36 was printed by Gutenberg but

also shows that the presence of titanium in the ink of the purportedly fifteenth

century Vinland Map can no longer be regarded as a reason for doubting the

map’s authenticity.

The reasoning in the passage is vulnerable to criticism on the ground that

 

(A) the results of the analysis are interpreted as indicating that the use of titanium

as an ingredient in fifteenth-century ink both was, and was not, extremely

restricted

 

(B) if the technology that makes it possible to detect titanium in printing ink has

only recently become available, it is unlikely that printers or artists in the

fifteenth century would know whether their ink contained titanium or not

 

© it is unreasonable to suppose that determination of the date and location of a

document’s printing or drawing can be made solely on the basis of the

presence or absence of a single element in the ink used in the document

 

(D) both the B-36 Bible and the Vinland Map are objects that can be appreciated

on their own merits whether or not the precise date of their creation or the

identity of the person who made them is known

 

(E) the discovery of titanium in the ink of the Vinland Map must have occurred

before titanium was discovered in the ink of the Gutenberg Bible and the

B-36 Bible

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OA- A

 

Official explanation follows :

 

The author first concludes that the presence of titanium in the ink of the Gutenberg and B-

36 Bibles supports the theory that Gutenberg printed both. Okay, this hinges on titanium’s

being a rare ingredient in 15th-century ink and therefore characteristic of Gutenberg. Then

the author concludes that the presence of titanium in the ink of the Vinland Map suggests

that the map dates from the 15th century. But that conclusion hinges on titanium’s being

typical of 15th-century ink. Clearly, both conclusions can’t be true: If titanium was typical

of 15th-century ink, then the B-36 Bible could have been printed by anyone.

(B) and (D) contain classic scope shifts. In (B), the issue of whether 15th-century printers

and artists knew titanium was in their ink was never raised by the author. As for (D), the

author never implies the B-36 Bible and the Vinland Map can’t be appreciated on their own

merits, so this can’t be a problem in his reasoning.

© Read carefully! Although the author does use titanium’s presence to determine —

unreasonably — when the Vinland Map was printed or drawn, he doesn’t use it to

determine where it was printed or drawn. More importantly, © misses the author’s major

flaw, that of drawing inconsistent conclusions.

(E) introduces an irrelevant distinction. The author never says exactly when these

discoveries occurred, just that they happened “recently.” The problem isn’t which

discovery occurred first; it’s that the author uses them to draw conflicting conclusions

 

• Reading the question stem first, while helpful with all Logical Reasoning questions,

is an especially handy strategy for flaw questions. You save time by knowing at the

outset that there’s something wrong with the reasoning in the stimulus.

• As you go through the answer choices for flaw questions, ask yourself whether

fixing the “flaw” listed in each choice will repair the argument. If there’s still a

problem with the reasoning, look for a different choice.

• Pay meticulous attention to detail when your read choices. The reference to

“location” in ©, for example, is enough to rule out this choice.

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