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CAT 2025 Lesson : Inference - Solved Examples
6. Solved Examples
Example 21
Read the following paragraph and answer the question that follows:
[XAT 2018]
The size of oceanic waves is a function of the velocity of the wind and of fetch, the length of the surface of the water subject to those winds. The average impact of waves against a coastline is a function of the size of the waves and the shape of the sea bottom. The degree of erosion on coastline is a function of the average impact of waves and the geologic composition of the coastline.
According to the above paragraph, which of the following options will be true?
(1) The fetch of wind is related to the shape of the sea bottom.
(2) The size of oceanic waves will not fluctuate far from average.
(3) The size of oceanic wave is correlated with the shape of the sea bottom.
(4) Degree of erosion on coastline is not related with the velocity of wind.
(5) Degree of erosion on coastline is related to shape of the sea-bottom.
Based on this, we can select option (5) as the correct choice, as the shape of the sea bottom is one of the characteristics impacting coastline erosion.
Option (1) is incorrect, as fetch is the length of water subject to winds.
Option (2) cannot be inferred from the passage.
Option (3) is incorrect, as the size of waves only depends on wind velocity and fetch.
Option (4) is incorrect, as wind velocity impacts the size of waves, which impacts impact of the waves, which impacts coastline erosion.
Therefore, we can eliminate these options and select option (5) as the correct choice.
Answer: (5) Degree of erosion on coastline is related to shape of the sea-bottom.
[XAT 2018]
The size of oceanic waves is a function of the velocity of the wind and of fetch, the length of the surface of the water subject to those winds. The average impact of waves against a coastline is a function of the size of the waves and the shape of the sea bottom. The degree of erosion on coastline is a function of the average impact of waves and the geologic composition of the coastline.
According to the above paragraph, which of the following options will be true?
(1) The fetch of wind is related to the shape of the sea bottom.
(2) The size of oceanic waves will not fluctuate far from average.
(3) The size of oceanic wave is correlated with the shape of the sea bottom.
(4) Degree of erosion on coastline is not related with the velocity of wind.
(5) Degree of erosion on coastline is related to shape of the sea-bottom.
Solution
We learn that coastline erosion depends on the impact of waves and the composition of the coastline. The impact of waves depends on the size of the waves and shape of the sea bottom. The size of waves depends on the wind velocity and length of water subject to wind. Therefore, erosion depends on the composition of the coastline, shape of the sea bottom, wind velocity and length of water subject to wind.Based on this, we can select option (5) as the correct choice, as the shape of the sea bottom is one of the characteristics impacting coastline erosion.
Option (1) is incorrect, as fetch is the length of water subject to winds.
Option (2) cannot be inferred from the passage.
Option (3) is incorrect, as the size of waves only depends on wind velocity and fetch.
Option (4) is incorrect, as wind velocity impacts the size of waves, which impacts impact of the waves, which impacts coastline erosion.
Therefore, we can eliminate these options and select option (5) as the correct choice.
Answer: (5) Degree of erosion on coastline is related to shape of the sea-bottom.
Example 22
Read the following paragraph and answer the question that follows:
Laissez-faire is an economic theory from the 18th century that opposed any government intervention in business affairs. The driving principle behind laissez-faire is that the less the government is involved in the economy, the better off business will be – and by extension, society as a whole. The underlying beliefs that make up the fundamentals of laissez-faire economics include, first and foremost, that a "natural order" rules the world. Because this natural self-regulation is the best type of regulation, laissez-faire economists argue that there is no need for business and industrial affairs to be complicated by government intervention. As a result, they oppose any sort of federal involvement in the economy, which includes any type of legislation or oversight; they are against minimum wages, duties, trade restrictions, and corporate taxes. In fact, laissez-faire economists see such taxes as a penalty for production.
Which of the following scenarios would laissez-faire economists agree with?
A. All expenses for laying roads should be paid by charging the people who want to use the road.
B. Worker unions and strikes should be illegal.
C. The government should provide healthcare for everyone.
(1) A only
(2) A and B only
(3) A, B and C
(4) B and C
Laissez-faire economists would agree with statement A, because the expense of constructing a road would be borne only by those people who want a road, instead of indiscriminate taxation.
As laissez-faire economists want production without laws and interference, they would also be against worker unions forcing industrialists to do what they want – however, they would not want a law for this purpose as they do not want government intervention. This is a tricky option, but when we focus on they oppose any sort of federal involvement in the economy, which includes any type of legislation, it becomes clear.
Similar to statement A, laissez-faire economists would not want the government to pay for healthcare – they would want individual people to pay their own healthcare costs.
Therefore, laissez-faire economists would agree with statement A, and thus, option (1) is the correct choice.
Answer: (2) A only
Laissez-faire is an economic theory from the 18th century that opposed any government intervention in business affairs. The driving principle behind laissez-faire is that the less the government is involved in the economy, the better off business will be – and by extension, society as a whole. The underlying beliefs that make up the fundamentals of laissez-faire economics include, first and foremost, that a "natural order" rules the world. Because this natural self-regulation is the best type of regulation, laissez-faire economists argue that there is no need for business and industrial affairs to be complicated by government intervention. As a result, they oppose any sort of federal involvement in the economy, which includes any type of legislation or oversight; they are against minimum wages, duties, trade restrictions, and corporate taxes. In fact, laissez-faire economists see such taxes as a penalty for production.
Which of the following scenarios would laissez-faire economists agree with?
A. All expenses for laying roads should be paid by charging the people who want to use the road.
B. Worker unions and strikes should be illegal.
C. The government should provide healthcare for everyone.
(1) A only
(2) A and B only
(3) A, B and C
(4) B and C
Solution
The author defines Laissez-faire economics as interference-free business, where people can do business without restrictions and taxes. Let us consider the statements.Laissez-faire economists would agree with statement A, because the expense of constructing a road would be borne only by those people who want a road, instead of indiscriminate taxation.
As laissez-faire economists want production without laws and interference, they would also be against worker unions forcing industrialists to do what they want – however, they would not want a law for this purpose as they do not want government intervention. This is a tricky option, but when we focus on they oppose any sort of federal involvement in the economy, which includes any type of legislation, it becomes clear.
Similar to statement A, laissez-faire economists would not want the government to pay for healthcare – they would want individual people to pay their own healthcare costs.
Therefore, laissez-faire economists would agree with statement A, and thus, option (1) is the correct choice.
Answer: (2) A only
Example 23
The question below has a set of sequentially ordered questions. Each statement can be classified as one of the following:
A. Facts, which deal with pieces of information that one has heard, seen or read, and which are open to discovery or verification (the answer option indicates such a statement with F)
B. Inferences, which are conclusions drawn about the unknown, on the basis of the known (the answer option indicates such a statement with I)
C. Judgements, which are opinions that imply approval or disapproval of persons, objects, situations and occurrences in the past, the present or the future (the answer option indicates such a statement with J)
Select the answer option that best describes the set of statements:
[CAT 2006]
1. Inequitable distribution of all kinds of resources is certainly one of the strongest and most sinister sources of conflict.
2. Even without war, we know that conflicts continue to trouble us – they only change in character.
3. Extensive disarmament is the only insurance for our future; imagine the amount of resources that can be released and redeployed.
4. The economies of the industrialized western world derive 20% of their income from the sale of all kinds of arms.
(1)IJJI (2)JIJF (3)IIJF (4) JIIF (5) IJIF
Statement 2 is the author's inference based on a fact (the author has taken information about conflicts and inferred that they are present even without war).
Statement 3 is also the author's opinion about possible solutions, since the author states that extensive disarmament (removal of weapons) is the only solution.
Statement 4 is a fact, about the amount which western countries can realise by selling their weapons. This is easily verifiable and hence, is a fact.
Therefore, the answer is option (2) – JIJF.
Answer: (2) JIJF
A. Facts, which deal with pieces of information that one has heard, seen or read, and which are open to discovery or verification (the answer option indicates such a statement with F)
B. Inferences, which are conclusions drawn about the unknown, on the basis of the known (the answer option indicates such a statement with I)
C. Judgements, which are opinions that imply approval or disapproval of persons, objects, situations and occurrences in the past, the present or the future (the answer option indicates such a statement with J)
Select the answer option that best describes the set of statements:
[CAT 2006]
1. Inequitable distribution of all kinds of resources is certainly one of the strongest and most sinister sources of conflict.
2. Even without war, we know that conflicts continue to trouble us – they only change in character.
3. Extensive disarmament is the only insurance for our future; imagine the amount of resources that can be released and redeployed.
4. The economies of the industrialized western world derive 20% of their income from the sale of all kinds of arms.
(1)IJJI (2)JIJF (3)IIJF (4) JIIF (5) IJIF
Solution
Statement 1 is the author's opinion (that unequal distribution of resources is a major cause of conflict). This is a judgement because the author states that this is a major cause of conflict.Statement 2 is the author's inference based on a fact (the author has taken information about conflicts and inferred that they are present even without war).
Statement 3 is also the author's opinion about possible solutions, since the author states that extensive disarmament (removal of weapons) is the only solution.
Statement 4 is a fact, about the amount which western countries can realise by selling their weapons. This is easily verifiable and hence, is a fact.
Therefore, the answer is option (2) – JIJF.
Answer: (2) JIJF
Example 24
Read the paragraph and answer the question given below:
[XAT 2015]
In the following pages, I shall demonstrate that there is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and that on the application of this technique, every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned a specific place in the psychic activities of the walking state. Further, I shall endeavour to elucidate the nature of the psychic forces whose conflict or cooperation is responsible for our dreams. This done, my investigation will terminate, as it will have reached the point where the problem of the dream merges into more comprehensive problems, and to solve these we must have recourse to material of a different kind.
Which of the followings would be closest to the ideas expressed in the paragraph?
(1) Overt causes can have only overt effects.
(2) Overt causes have only covert effects.
(3) Covert effects have only covert causes.
(4) You can’t judge a book by its cover.
(5) Overt effects can have covert causes.
The author suggests that people's issues can be revealed from their dreams with psychological analysis. The need for this suggests that dreams are not explicitly about the problems. Therefore, we can infer that the problems covertly impact one's dreams. Note that overt means done or shown openly, plainly apparent, whereas covert means hidden, not openly displayed. Therefore, we know that the problem is the cause that is covertly causing the effect (the dreams), i.e. the cause is covert (unknown) but the effect is overt (known). Therefore, we can select the expression overt effects can have covert causes, which is present in option (5).
Options (1), (2) and (3) are incorrect as we have established that the cause is covert and the effect is overt.
Option (4) is irrelevant to this paragraph, and can also be eliminated.
Answer: (5) Overt effects can have covert causes.
[XAT 2015]
In the following pages, I shall demonstrate that there is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and that on the application of this technique, every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned a specific place in the psychic activities of the walking state. Further, I shall endeavour to elucidate the nature of the psychic forces whose conflict or cooperation is responsible for our dreams. This done, my investigation will terminate, as it will have reached the point where the problem of the dream merges into more comprehensive problems, and to solve these we must have recourse to material of a different kind.
Which of the followings would be closest to the ideas expressed in the paragraph?
(1) Overt causes can have only overt effects.
(2) Overt causes have only covert effects.
(3) Covert effects have only covert causes.
(4) You can’t judge a book by its cover.
(5) Overt effects can have covert causes.
Solution
In this paragraph, the author is discussing the psychological technique to interpret dreams. The author further goes on to state that he would explain the psychic forces causing these dreams, in order to understand the dreamer's actual problems and solve them. Based on the words in the following pages, we can infer that this is possibly a book or a journal.The author suggests that people's issues can be revealed from their dreams with psychological analysis. The need for this suggests that dreams are not explicitly about the problems. Therefore, we can infer that the problems covertly impact one's dreams. Note that overt means done or shown openly, plainly apparent, whereas covert means hidden, not openly displayed. Therefore, we know that the problem is the cause that is covertly causing the effect (the dreams), i.e. the cause is covert (unknown) but the effect is overt (known). Therefore, we can select the expression overt effects can have covert causes, which is present in option (5).
Options (1), (2) and (3) are incorrect as we have established that the cause is covert and the effect is overt.
Option (4) is irrelevant to this paragraph, and can also be eliminated.
Answer: (5) Overt effects can have covert causes.
7. Cheat Sheet
Inference or logical reasoning questions are like a shorter version of Reading Comprehension – you will have a question following a short paragraph, to be solved using logical reasoning. This occurs in XAT, and similar questions can come up in the Logical Reasoning of NMAT.
The questions will mostly be inferential in nature (what can be inferred from the passage, which of the following will the author agree with, etc.). There can be some direct questions as well.
A variant which came up in CAT is Fact-inference-judgement questions (that provide a few sentences and ask you to identify which sentence is which).
A fact is defined as information which is either true or false. A fact is independent of the author's opinions and biases, and can be verified.
An inference is something which we realise or conclude based on a known fact.
A judgement is an opinion, which is made based on facts and logic. It is typically a conclusion, or approval/disapproval.
In order to solve Inference questions, you must
1) Read through the paragraph and determine the key information
2) Understand the author's PoV or key message
3) Answer based on the PoV
4) Eliminate options based on logical reasoning (options which are factually or logically inconsistent, too harsh, weaker, meandering, etc.)
The questions will mostly be inferential in nature (what can be inferred from the passage, which of the following will the author agree with, etc.). There can be some direct questions as well.
A variant which came up in CAT is Fact-inference-judgement questions (that provide a few sentences and ask you to identify which sentence is which).
A fact is defined as information which is either true or false. A fact is independent of the author's opinions and biases, and can be verified.
An inference is something which we realise or conclude based on a known fact.
A judgement is an opinion, which is made based on facts and logic. It is typically a conclusion, or approval/disapproval.
In order to solve Inference questions, you must
1) Read through the paragraph and determine the key information
2) Understand the author's PoV or key message
3) Answer based on the PoV
4) Eliminate options based on logical reasoning (options which are factually or logically inconsistent, too harsh, weaker, meandering, etc.)
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