Syllogisms
Syllogisms are standard questions to be expected in Banking exams. Once the concept is understood, they are fairly easy to solve and are not time consuming. It’s very important in Syllogisms to assume that the statements are true and not go by common knowledge. Examples are given below to illustrate the significance of this point.
Venn diagrams can be drawn to simplify syllogisms. Though not a requirement, Venn diagrams can make Syllogisms very easy to solve.
[IBPS 2011 Clerk]
Directions: In each question below are two statements followed by two conclusions numbered 1 and 2. You have to take the two given statements to be true even if they seem to be at variance from commonly known facts and then decide which of the given conclusions logically follows from the given statements disregarding commonly known facts.
Give answer
(1) If conclusion 1 follows
(2) If only conclusion 2 follows
(3) If either conclusion 1 or 2 follows
(4) If neither conclusion 1 nor 2 follows
(5) If both conclusions 1 and 2 follow.
A) Statements – Some trees are bushes. All flowers are bushes.
Conclusions – 1) At least some bushes are trees. 2) At least some flowers are trees.
Solution: To solve this question, we draw a Venn diagram:
Trees and Bushes are overlapping sets as the statement says some trees are bushes. (we have to assume that statements are correct). Since all flowers are bushes, flowers will be a subset of bushes. So, clearly conclusion 1 is true and conclusion 2 is false. So, we select option 1
B) Statements – All colours are paints. No paint is a brush.
Conclusions – 1) At least some brushes are colours. 2) No brush is a colour.
Solution: Like we mentioned earlier, we have to assume that the statements are correct and not bother about their real life implication. All colours are paints, so colours is a subset of paints. No paint is a brush, so paint and brush are non – overlapping sets. So clearly, conclusion 1 is false and conclusion 2 is true. So, we choose option 2.
