TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given a question, along with a context passage. The passage will not have a direct answer to the question, but can include some information and a clue for the answer. Assuming you can only obtain information about one entity in the passage, your job is to determine whether information from the passage can be used to answer the question. Indicate your choice as `a` for Yes or `b` for No.
PROBLEM: Question: How old was Harrison when he won the Presidency? Passage:Beginning with the 2000 election, the status of the Missouri bellwether came into question. Between 1904 and 2004, Missouri was carried by the victor of each presidential election, with the exception of 1956. Though Bush won the presidency in the 2000 election through the Electoral College, he lost the national popular vote. The 2000 election was unique because this was the first time in over a century where the popular vote winner lost the general election. (In 1888, Missouri voted for Grover Cleveland, the incumbent Democrat, who lost to Republican candidate Benjamin Harrison). Thus, controversy exists as to whether or not Missouri accurately predicted victor in this election. In the subsequent election, Missouri voted for George W. Bush, who this time won both the popular vote and the Electoral College. Missouri has voted reliably Republican since 2000. The state voted for John McCain in 2008, and for Mitt Romney in 2012, both of whom lost the general election to Barack Obama. The controversy is further complicated by the 2016 presidential election, where Missouri voted for Donald Trump by a landslide, while Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly three million votes, but like in 2000, Trump won the Electoral College and became 45th President of the United States. Like 2000, political scientists have differing opinions on whether or not Missouri accurately predicted the victor, and even if Missouri is still a bellwether state at all.


SOLUTION: b

PROBLEM: Question: What was the primary focus of the paper Royster had worked for before the war? Passage:After shakedown along the U.S. East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, Jack Miller sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, 13 June 1944, arriving Pearl Harbor 12 July via the Panama Canal Zone and San Diego, California. After more intensive training out of Pearl Harbor, she departed on 24 July screening a convoy to Eniwetok, where she arrived on 2 August. The remainder of the month was spent on patrol and convoy duty. Jack Miller sailed from Eniwetok on 2 September and, after escorting a convoy to Saipan, took up harbor patrol duty there. Antisubmarine patrols, convoy screening, and escort duty kept Jack Miller busy for the next nine months. During this period she sank five mines. In late 1944 Jack Miller came under the command of Lt. Commander Vermont C. Royster; he had served as the White House correspondent of The Wall Street Journal before the war. After the war ended, Lt. Commander Royster would leave the Navy and resume his journalism career at the Wall Street Journal; he would eventually become the paper's editor-in-chief in 1958.


SOLUTION: b

PROBLEM: Question: Which of Barker's influences was born first? Passage:Barker was born January 7, 1971 in Lombard, Illinois and spent the first fourteen years of his life in Crystal Lake, Illinois. At fourteen, Barker’s family relocated to Englewood, Florida. He attended Lemon Bay High School and graduated in 1989. He enrolled at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale where he later obtained a degree in business. While in college, a writing assignment found its way into the hands of Paul Gallotta of Circus Magazine. Gallotta reached out to Barker and asked him to join the staff of 25th Parallel (magazine) where he worked alongside the man who would later become Marilyn Manson. Assignments dropped him into the center of pop culture and by 1991 Barker branched out, interviewing celebrities for the likes of Seventeen, TeenBeat, and other national and local publications. In 1992, Barker syndicated a small newspaper column called Revealed which centered around the investigation of haunted places and supernatural occurrences. He began work as a ghost writer and book doctor, helping other authors for publication. Barker cites Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Saul, and Neil Gaiman among his influences.


SOLUTION:
b