LSAT Explanation PT 20, S4, Q26: Smoking in bed has long been

LSAT Question Stem

Each one of the following statements, if true over the last two decades, helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy above EXCEPT: 

Logical Reasoning Question Type

This is a Paradox question. 

Correct Answer

The correct answer to this question is B. 

LSAT Question Complete Explanation

In this Paradox question, we are asked to resolve the apparent discrepancy between the decline in cigarette smoking and the lack of a comparable decline in the number of people killed in home fires. We are looking for an answer choice that does NOT help resolve this discrepancy.

Before we dive into the answer choices, let's break down the passage. The passage states that smoking in bed has been the main cause of home fires, and there has been a significant decline in cigarette smoking in the last two decades. However, despite this decline, the number of people killed in home fires has not seen a similar decline. This creates a paradox that we need to resolve.

Now, let's analyze each answer choice:

a) This choice suggests that home fires caused by smoking in bed usually cause relatively little damage before they are extinguished. This helps resolve the discrepancy by implying that even though smoking-related fires have decreased, they were never the primary cause of deaths in home fires. Thus, the number of deaths in home fires would not have decreased significantly.

b) This choice states that home fires caused by smoking in bed often break out after the home's occupants have fallen asleep. This choice actually makes the paradox more perplexing, as it implies that these fires should be more lethal due to the occupants being asleep. If these fires have decreased, we would expect the number of deaths to decrease too, but they haven't.

c) This choice implies that heavy smokers who smoke in bed are less likely to quit smoking than smokers who do not smoke in bed. This means that even though overall smoking has decreased, the smoking habits of those most likely to cause dangerous home fires have not changed. This helps resolve the discrepancy by suggesting that the most dangerous home fires caused by smoking have not decreased, even though overall smoking has.

d) This choice provides an alternative cause for the number of deaths in home fires – fires that started in the kitchen. If an increasing number of people have been killed in kitchen fires, this could account for the lack of a decline in the number of people killed in home fires, despite the decrease in smoking-related fires.

e) This choice suggests that population densities have increased, leading to more deaths per home fire. This helps resolve the discrepancy by implying that even though the number of fires has decreased, the number of deaths per fire has increased, keeping the overall number of deaths in home fires constant.

In conclusion, the correct answer is (b), as it does not help resolve the discrepancy between the decline in cigarette smoking and the lack of a comparable decline in the number of people killed in home fires. Instead, it makes the paradox more perplexing. The other answer choices all provide reasons that help explain the discrepancy.