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CAT 2019 Shift 1 Paper

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Question : 30 of 100

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The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Physics is a pure science that seeks to understand the behavior of matter without regard to whether it will afford any practical benefit. Engineering is the correlative applied science in which physical theories are put to some specific use, such as building a bridge or a nuclear reactor. Engineers obviously rely heavily on the discoveries of physicists, but an engineer's knowledge of the world is not the same as the physicist's knowledge. In fact, an engineer's know-how will often depend on physical theories that, from the point of view of pure physics, are false. There are some reasons for this. First, theories that are false in the purest and strictest sense are still sometimes very good approximations to the true ones, and often have the added virtue of being much easier to work with. Second, sometimes the true theories apply only under highly idealized conditions which can only be created under controlled experimental situations. The engineer finds that in the real world, theories rejected by physicists yield more accurate predictions than the ones that they accept.

The unique task of the engineer is to identify, understand, and interpret the design constraints to produce a successful result.
The relationship between pure and applied science is strictly linear, with the pure science directing applied science, and never the other way round.
Engineering and physics fundamentally differ on matters like building a bridge or a nuclear reactor.
Though engineering draws heavily from pure science, it contributes to knowledge, by incorporating the constraints and conditions in the real world.

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