Information and IdeasHardMain idea about a failed prediction
Information and Ideas practice question
In 1894 a newspaper predicted that by 1950 every street in London would be buried under nine feet of horse manure. The prediction was arithmetically sound and entirely wrong: it extended the growth of horse traffic without imagining that anything might replace the horse.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- A. The prediction failed not because its calculation was wrong but because it assumed the future would only extend the present.Correct
- B. London's streets were buried in manure by 1950.
- C. Newspapers in 1894 were poor at arithmetic.
- D. Horse traffic in London stopped growing in 1894.
Answer: A. The prediction failed not because its calculation was wrong but because it assumed the future would only extend the present.
'Arithmetically sound and entirely wrong': the failure was of imagination, not calculation.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. London's streets were buried in manure by 1950.
- The prediction was 'entirely wrong'.
- C. Newspapers in 1894 were poor at arithmetic.
- The arithmetic was sound.
- D. Horse traffic in London stopped growing in 1894.
- The text says nothing about when horse traffic stopped growing.
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