When we speak of the “probability of death”, the exact meaning of the experience can be defined in the following way only. We must not think of an individual, but of a certain class as a whole, e.g., “all insured men forty-one years old living in a given country and not engaged in certain dangerous occupations.”
A probability of death is attached to the class of men or to another class that can be defined in a similar way. We can say nothing about the probability of death of an individual even if we know this condition of life and health in detail. The phrase “probability of death”, when it refers to a single person, has no meaning at all.
Analyse the passage on “probability of death” and identify which conclusions follow from it.
1) Singular, non-replicable events can be assigned a numerical probability value.
2) Probability calculation requires data about a class of people or of events.
3) Data about a class of events can be used to predict the future of any specific event.
2) Probability calculation requires data about a class of people or of events.
3) Data about a class of events can be used to predict the future of any specific event.
Show Hint
- 1 only
- 2 only
- 1 and 2
- 2 and 3
- 1 and 3
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Extract the thesis of the passage.
The passage insists that probability has meaning only for a class (e.g., “all insured men aged 41 in a given country not engaged in dangerous occupations”). For a single person (a non-replicable one-off), “probability of death” has no meaning.
Step 2: Test each statement against the thesis.
(1) Singular, non-replicable events can be assigned probability.
This contradicts the passage: the author explicitly denies attaching probability to a single, unique case. Reject 1.
(2) Probability requires class data.
This is exactly the author’s requirement—probability is defined over a class with countable outcomes/frequencies. Accept 2.
(3) Class data predict any specific future event.
The passage does not license determinative prediction for a particular case; it only allows a frequency statement about the class. Reject 3.
Step 3: Conclude.
Only Statement 2 follows. \[ \boxed{\text{2 only (B)}} \]
“The outcome of a boxing match to be held in Los Angeles between two boxers, Joe and Mark, belonging to two different boxing clubs can be analysed and an outcome can be assigned a numerical value.” Which statement would the author(s) \textbf{disagree with the most?}
Show Hint
- if assignment of the boxers’ current fitness levels and their strengths is done by experts.
- by analysis of outcomes of fights between the boxers belonging to the two clubs.
- by analysis of outcomes of fights between the two boxers at different venues.
- by comparing outcomes of fights between the two boxers against same opponents.
- by analysis of outcomes of fights between the two boxers at the same venue in Los Angeles.
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Probabilities meaningfully attach to classes/aggregates, not to a single event/individual case. Step 2: Classify the options.
- (A) Judges this single match by expert assessment of the two individuals. This keeps us in the one-off, non-replicable, individual realm the author rejects. Maximal disagreement.
- (B) Uses many fights among boxers from the two clubs → aggregates/class-type data. Compatible.
- (C) Uses many fights between the same pair at different venues → repeated outcomes → quasi-class. More compatible than A.
- (D) Compares each boxer’s results vs same opponents → pooled performance data → class-like. Compatible.
- (E) Uses many fights at the same venue → again an aggregate. Compatible.
Step 3: Conclude.
The author would most strongly disagree with (A) because it treats an individual, one-off outcome as probabilistically assessable via expert opinion rather than class frequencies. \[ \boxed{\text{Option (A)}} \]
With the same boxing-match claim as in Q17, which statement would the author(s) agree with the most?
Show Hint
- if assignment of the boxers’ current fitness levels and their strengths is done by experts.
- by analysis of outcomes of fights between the boxers belonging to the two clubs.
- by analysis of outcomes of fights between the two boxers at different venues.
- by comparing outcomes of fights between the two boxers against same opponents.
- by analysis of outcomes of fights between the two boxers at the same venue in Los Angeles.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Agreement will go to the option that most clearly aggregates over a class rather than isolates an individual case.
Step 2: Compare viable aggregates.
- (B) Looks at outcomes of fights involving many boxers from each club — the broadest, most clearly defined class. Strongest match.
- (C), (D), (E) aggregate too, but remain narrower (same two boxers; same opponents; same venue), hence less class-like than (B).
- (A) is individual expert assessment of the single event → violates the principle.
Step 3: Conclude.
The author’s view aligns best with (B). \[ \boxed{\text{Option (B)}} \]
“The sum of behaviour is to retain a man’s dignity without intruding upon the liberty of others”, stated Sir Francis Bacon. If this is the case, then not intruding upon another’s liberty is impossible. The conclusion strongly implied by the author of the passage is:
Show Hint
- Retaining one’s dignity is impossible without intruding upon others’ liberty.
- Retaining dignity does not necessarily involve robbing others’ liberty.
- Dignity and liberty are mutually exclusive.
- There is always the possibility of a “dignified intrusion”.
- Retaining dignity never involves intrusion into others’ liberty.
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
The passage says: retain dignity without intruding others’ liberty; however, it immediately adds that “not intruding is impossible.”
\Rightarrow If “no intrusion” is impossible, then any actual attempt to retain dignity will necessarily involve some intrusion.
Step 2: Test options against this necessity.
(A) Exactly restates the logical implication: dignity \Rightarrow intrusion (since “no intrusion” is impossible). ✓
(B) Says “does not necessarily involve” \Rightarrow contradicts the necessity just derived. ✗
(C) Says dignity and liberty are mutually exclusive \Rightarrow stronger than warranted. ✗
(D) Speaks of mere possibility, not necessity. ✗
(E) Says never involves intrusion \Rightarrow opposite of the statement. ✗
Step 3: Conclude.
Only (A) captures the necessity implied. \[ \boxed{\text{Option (A)}} \]
Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
From a very early age, I knew that when I grew up, I should be a writer. I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued. I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts, and I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my failure in everyday life. I wanted to write enormous naturalistic novels with unhappy endings, full of detailed descriptions and arresting similes, and also full of purple passages in which words were used partly for the sake of their sound. I give all this background information because I do not think one can assess a writer's motives without knowing something of his early development.
His subject-matter will be determined by the age he lives in — at least this is true in tumultuous, revolutionary ages like our own — but before he ever begins to write he will have acquired an emotional attitude from which he will never completely escape. It is his job to discipline his temperament, but if he escapes from his early influences altogether, he will have killed his impulse to write. I think there are four great motives for writing, at any rate for writing prose. They are: (i) Sheer egoism: Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood; (ii) Aesthetic enthusiasm: Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed (iii) Historical impulse: Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity (iv) Political purpose: Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people's idea of the kind of society that they should strive after.
[Extracted with edits from George Orwell's "Why I Write"]- CLAT - 2025
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Questions Asked in XAT exam
- In an 8-week course, the teacher conducts a test every week, and the scores are in the range of 1–4. There are only two students enrolled in the course, \(R\) and \(S\). The following conditions are given:
- \(R\) and \(S\) scored the same on the first test.
- From the second test onwards, \(R\) consistently scored the same (a non-zero score).
- The total of the first three test scores of \(R\) equals the total of the first two test scores of \(S\).
- From the fifth test onwards, \(S\) scored the same as \(R\).
- The scores of \(S\) from the first two tests and all the remaining tests follow a geometric progression.
- XAT - 2025
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- XAT - 2025
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- XAT - 2025
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A B C D Average 3 4 4 ? 4 3 ? 5 ? 4 ? 3 3 ? 4 ? ? ? ? 4.25 4 4 4 4.25
1. What are the missing values in the table?
2. How were the missing values calculated?
3.Verify the correctness of the given averages for both rows and columns. - A bought a phone from a store and paid \(\frac{1}{6}\) of the price using UPI, \(\frac{1}{3}\) of the price in cash, and the remaining balance a year later. He also paid 10% interest on the remaining balance after one year. What was the original price of the phone?
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