Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: You need calcium to get healthy bones. Therefore, if your bones aren't healthy, you definitely didn't get enough calcium.

Conclusion: Children who do not have healthy bones must have had diets lacking sufficient calcium.

Reasoning: Sufficient calcium is a necessary requirement for a child to develop healthy bones.

Analysis: This argument commits the 'Mistaken Negation' flaw. The premise establishes that calcium is necessary for healthy bones (Bones -> Calcium). However, the author incorrectly assumes that if the result is absent (no healthy bones), the specific necessity must also be absent (no calcium). In reality, a child could consume plenty of calcium but still have unhealthy bones due to genetics or other vitamin deficiencies. We need to find an answer that follows this same 'A requires B, so if not A, then not B' logical structure.

Passage Stimulus

Passage Redacted

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9.

Flawed reasoning in which one of the following most closely parallels the flawed reasoning in the argument above?

Correct Answer
B
B mirrors the same inverse error: Good-tasting cake requires the right amount of flour (Good Taste -> Right Flour). The conclusion claims that if a cake doesn’t taste good, it lacks the right amount of flour (~Good Taste -> ~Right Flour). That confuses a necessary condition for a sufficient one, just like the stimulus.
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