Digital PSAT Reading and Writing Practice Question 83: Answer and Explanation

Question: 83

Though humans have likely marveled at the spectacle of Halley's Comet for thousands of years (the Talmudic astronomers of the first century describe a star that appears once every seventy years to wreak havoc on nautical navigation), it was little more than 300 years ago that Edmond Halley-a friend of Sir Isaac Newton's-used Newton's newly conceived laws of gravity to explain the motion and predict the periodicity of comets. Using these equations in tandem with historical records, Halley surmised that the comets observed in 1531 by German humanist Petrus Apianus, in 1607 by Johannes Kepler, and by himself and Newton in 1683 were one and the same. Moreover, he predicted its return for 1758.

The scientist Halley's relationship to the ideas of Newton most resembles the relationship between

• A. a musician who uses music theory to enable creative compositions.
• B. a politician who uses philosophical maxims to predict societal outcomes.
• C. a mathematician who uses scientific data to justify algebraic theories.
• D. an engineer who uses the laws of physics to build long-lasting constructions.

Correct Answer: B

Explanation:

(B) Newton's theories gave Halley a general structure he could use to make better predictions about the behavior of comets. Out of the options, this is most similar to a politician who uses philosophical maxims to predict societal outcomes, since the philosophical maxims would give the theoretical structure that the politician would use to predict what would come next. It is not choice (A), because the musician is not making predictions. It is not (C), because the mathematician is using the data to create theories, whereas Halley was using the theory to make experimental predictions as to what the data would be. And it is not (D), because the engineer is not focused on making predictions about data but using established laws of physics for construction.