Question ID : 48916814211

Note: For the sake of this discussion, choice (2) and choice (3) are considered to be the following:

Choice (2): Researchers found that the heat produced in a system is the price paid for increased accuracy of measurement.

Choice (3): There is no difference in accuracy between an inefficient grandfather clock and an atomic clock.

After thoroughly examining the question and the passage, the team of experts at T.I.M.E. are of the opinion that choice (3) is not an argument made by the author in the passage. It also appears that choice (2) is evident from the passage, making it unlikely to be the correct answer. Therefore, it would seem that the correct answer should be choice (3) and not choice (2). However, it is possible that the CAT examiner might have some line of argument according to which choice (2) could be considered as a possible answer. Therefore, we believe, at the least, both choice (2) and choice (3) should be treated as correct answers for this question, if not changing the correct answer altogether.

The following is the explanation for this:

In the third para, when the author mentions that "it doesn't mean that a clock that creates the most possible entropy would be maximally accurate –" he resorts to using the example of a "large, inefficient grandfather clock" to, clearly, refer to a clock that creates relatively high entropy, and then continues to compare it (in a matter-of-fact manner) with an atomic clock which not only produces (relatively) much less entropy but is also known to be highly accurate. It can be inferred that this comparison was done with the sole purpose of illustrating (by using a highly obvious and striking example) how the converse of 'higher accuracy-higher entropy' rule is not true. There is no further comparison of the actual accuracies of the two clocks (simply because it is common knowledge, beyond any doubt) that the former is less accurate. So, the author does not make an argument that "there is no difference in accuracy between an inefficient grandfather clock and an atomic clock". Hence, choice (3) is not an argument made by the author in the passage.