PrepTest 159, Section 4, Question 22
The success of modern physics has consisted primarily(455 more words not shown)
In the passage, the author(10 more words not shown)
- Aintroducing a scientific(16 more words not shown)
- Bdelineating contradictory assumptions(9 more words not shown)
- Creconciling two divergent(7 more words not shown)
- Darguing for the(10 more words not shown)
- Edemonstrating the need(14 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Recall the main idea from the read-through: complexity theory may help explain systems that combine order and chaos, including living things. The opening shows why understanding basic particles is not enough to predict every complicated system; the ending shows why some disorder can be useful for adaptation.
What we’re looking for
We're looking for that introduction to a promising theory, rather than a claim that science has reached an impossible dead end.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
The theory is complexity theory. Its promise is to explain systems on the edge of chaos, including the mixture of stability and useful disorder in living things. That fits the discussion's movement from the limits of particle-level explanation to a potentially productive approach to more complicated behavior.
- B
No contradictory assumptions of modern science are laid out. A difficulty predicting complicated systems is not itself a contradiction in scientific assumptions.
- C
The author isn't reconciling two competing theories. Linear and chaotic behavior are different kinds of behavior used to explain the subject of complexity theory, not two theories whose disagreement is resolved.
- D
The ending expresses promise, not hopelessness. Complexity theory may explain aspects of these systems, so the author isn't arguing that a satisfactory explanation can never be obtained.
- E
The opening credits physics with success in explaining fundamental components. The problem is predicting complicated systems made from those components, not showing that explanations of the particles themselves need improvement.
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