PrepTest 159, Section 4, Question 26
The success of modern physics has consisted primarily(455 more words not shown)
The author introduces the example(11 more words not shown)
- Ademonstrate how a(8 more words not shown)
- Billustrate how small(9 more words not shown)
- Cprovide an example(5 more words not shown)
- Dexplain why a(7 more words not shown)
- Eremove an obstacle(5 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Watch what changes in the faucet example. Opening it a little farther doesn't merely produce a slightly greater version of the same smooth flow. At the relevant point, the water becomes turbulent and spurts unpredictably. A relatively small adjustment produces a much larger change in the resulting behavior.
Working the answers
- A
The smooth, low-velocity flow supplies a starting point, but the example's point is the dramatic change that follows. Similar input does not keep producing similar output throughout the example.
- BCorrect
The author expressly contrasts an input that is “not dramatically different” with a result that is “suddenly very different.” That demonstrates the sensitivity to initial conditions just described for nonlinear systems.
- C
The example begins with linear flow, then moves beyond it. Calling it merely an example of a simple linear system leaves out the change it was introduced to show.
- D
The author does not use the example to establish that linear and chaotic behavior cannot coexist. The next paragraph expressly discusses behavior that is partly linear and partly chaotic.
- E
The faucet illustrates an obstacle to prediction: a small change can produce a dramatically different outcome. Explaining that difficulty doesn't remove it.
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