The method used in 1920 by the US Geological Survey to calculate the geographic center of Wyoming, involving a cardboard cutout of the state and a piece of string, seems rudimentary today. _______the center found in a 2015 study using far more advanced technology differed from the original by just a few miles, proving the original method to be relatively accurate.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Explanation
Context: The text says the 1920 method the US Geological Survey used to find Wyoming's geographic center, a cardboard cutout and a piece of string, seems rudimentary today; the clause after the blank reports that a far more advanced 2015 study landed within a few miles of it, proving the old method relatively accurate. The task is to choose the most logical transition.
Answer: B) That said,
Why? The blank has to reverse the dismissal before it: crude as the cardboard-and-string method looks now, it turned out to work. "That said," concedes that first judgment and then qualifies it with the contrary evidence.
Traps:
- A) "For example," would offer the 2015 result as an instance of the method seeming rudimentary, but that result argues the method was sound.
- C) "As such," draws a consequence, making accuracy follow from seeming rudimentary; a crude method invites the opposite expectation.
- D) "In other words," signals a rewording, yet "seems rudimentary" and "relatively accurate" are opposed assessments, not two phrasings of one idea.