Explanation
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- The “Federalist Papers” are a collection of 85 essays originally published under the pseudonym “Publius”.
- The authors have been identified as Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.
- Of the 85 essays, 12 have been disputed, leading to heated debates over whether they were written by Hamilton or Madison.
- Mathematicians Frederick Mosteller and David Wallace used comparative analysis to examine the individual writing styles of the essays.
- They found that Madison was most likely the author, noting that Madison’s average use of the word “upon” was 0.23, and the disputed essay had less of this word.
Choice B is the best answer. The sentence uses information from the notes to make a generalization about the type of method the mathematicians used to resolve the issues of authorship in literature. Specifically, the sentence indicates that it was through the use of comparative analysis that they were able to resolve this problem.
Choice A: The sentence mentions the data from the study to draw a conclusion about a particular analysis of a collection of essays; it doesn’t make a generalization about the kind of study conducted.
Choice C: The sentence provides only the specific conclusion from a particular analysis of a collection of essays; it doesn’t make a generalization about the kind of study conducted.
Choice D: The sentence provides a summary of the methodology and findings of a specific collection of essays; it doesn’t make a generalization about the kind of study conducted.
✨ Expert's Tip ✨
- Identify the goal presented in the question prompt: generalize the kind of study conducted by mathematicians.
- Generalization is the process of taking information from specific cases and applying it to a larger context.