CRITICAL REASONING :AIRCRAFT AND LEATHER SEAT QUESTION

     . Some airline companies prefer to spend extra money on leather seats for their aircraft, sometimes twice as expensive as the others, because they last two times as long.

(A)   Some airline companies prefer to spend extra money on leather seats for their aircraft, sometimes twice as expensive as the others, because they last two times as long.

(B)    Some airline companies prefer to spend extra money, sometimes twice as expensive as the others, on leather seats for their aircraft because they last twice as long.

(C)   Some airline companies prefer to spend extra money on leather seats, sometimes twice as expensive as the others, on leather seats for their aircraft, being twice as long lasting.

(D)   Leather seats lasting twice as long as the others, some airline companies prefer spending two times the extra money on them.

(E)    Some airline companies prefer to spend extra money on leather seats, sometimes twice as expensive as the others, for their aircraft because they last twice as long.

SOLUTION

The fact that everything is underlined in this sentence means that you have a lot of issues to consider. Start with something concrete.

*You know that "sometimes twice as expensive as the others" modifies leather seats so make sure that the two are placed next to each other in the sentence. Eliminate (A) and (B)

.* IN option c "leather seats" has been used twice making it redundant, silly and incorrect. Eliminate (C).

* Finally, "two times the extra money" in (D) makes no sense, or at least it distorts the meaning of the original sentence, suggesting that companies are spending twice the increase in cost rather than twice the cost of the other seats.

.* (E) remains. (E) IS THE ANSWERS

Common Statistical Flaws : CR

 Learn to recognize that statistics  , don’t always lead directly to the conclusions that one might try to draw from them. GMAT will  test you on this concept repeatedly.
Commonly tested flaws using statistics include:

• Wordplay—
A statistic does not match directly the conclusion that follows
(e.g., arrests vs. crimes)
 Precision in wording is an oft tested concept on the GMAT. With statistics in particular, the authors of the GMAT are able to take your eye off of the premise and conclusion, and invite
you to focus on the numbers. Know this: When you see statistics in Critical
Reasoning questions, there is almost always a flaw in logic. Read critically and
ensure that the numbers are tied to an oranges to oranges comparison.

• Absolute Number vs. Percentage/Proportion
Questions will often try to blind you with numbers in a situation that requires
percentages or proportions. For example, one could argue that Texas
does not carry its weight in contributing U.S. federal income taxes, because
it contributes only $54 billion per year, while California contributes well over
$300 billion. But that absolute number is misleading: Texas actually
contributes more federal tax money per citizen than any other state. It just
happens to have a relatively low population.

• Unequal Basis Points/“Unweighted Averages”—
Uneven sample sizes are compared to a common third pool (e.g., more people die from DRUG OVERDOSE each year than are killed by great white sharks; therefore it is safer to
swim with sharks than to TAKE OVERDOSE OF A DRUG)
Perhaps the most “statistical” of statistical flaws, the unweighted average is
problematic. Consider the very famous statistic that “most traffic accidents
happen within 10 miles of the victim’s home.” Does that really mean that it’s
more dangerous to drive around your neighborhood than to drive in a remote
area that you do not know? Of course not. It’s just that the first and last 10
miles of nearly every trip you take are within 10 miles of your home. So a
massive percentage of your driving takes place there. Using the basis point “all
accidents” is misleading.

• Incongruent Samples—
Two “equivalent” statistics were not obtained in
the same fashion (e.g., a local, low-cost, part-time MBA program with no
application fee vs. Stanford ; even if the local program’s acceptance rate is
low, are its applicants analogous to Stanford’s?)
Often data is flawed because the statistics are simply not parallel. Even
statistics that are comparable (percentage to percentage) can have intervening
factors in their sample pools or collection procedures that leave them less
than concrete in proving a conclusion. For instance, Harvard has an extensive
(and expensive) application procedure and is known to have extremely high
admissions standards. For many it may simply not be worth the time and
application fee to apply without a high likelihood of success. Other schools
may have lower barriers to application—famously, some undergraduate
schools have accepted applications through Twitter—that attract a high
number of applicants for a low number of seats, creating a low, seemingly
selective, acceptance rate that is in fact really not that selective.
Again, the difference may be clearest in wordplay. One can say that a school
“has a lower acceptance rate than Stanford,” but as soon as one takes the
statistic and concludes something in different terms (“more selective” is not
the same as “lower acceptance rate”) there exists a subtle gap in logic that an
answer choice can exploit.

WE shall discuss some questions based on  confusing statistics tomorrow on this blog...Stay tunes peeps.

SOLUTION:Question OF The Day: sc (Reality television)

 Out of the public's interest in the details of and conflicts in other people's lives have grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing "regular" people onto the television screen with increasing frequency.

a)other people's lives have grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing

b)other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing

c)another person's life has grown a booming market for a "reality" television show that is bringing

d)other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that is bringing

e)other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that bring

REASON FOR ELIMINATION (ROE 1):- DIFFERENCE IN USE OF "OTHER" AND "ANOTHER"

"another" can only be used with singular nonspecific countable noun

Examples:

“Let’s meet another day.”

“I’d like another piece of cake.”

"other" can only be used with plural or uncountable nonspecific noun

Examples:

“Other people have problems, too.” [people = plural noun]

“This book has other information.” [information = uncountable noun]

By using above rule option c is eliminated.

ROE 2:- Have grown/ has grown???

This is one sentence where the subject is coming after the verb. Its very important to determine the real subject in all subject verb agreement questions. here verb is Have grown/ has grown and subject is "Market". MARKET being singular will have " has grown" as the correct verb form.

That eliminates option a

ROE 3:- THAT are bringing/ that is bringing/that bring

Again the real subject for the above verb is the " MARKET" , hence are bringing would be wrong. therefore OPTION B is eliminated.(market is singular).

 EVEN using "market bring " is wrong grammatically as singular subject "market" will only go with a verb with "s". Therefore OPTION E is also eliminated .

OPTION D is the correct answer

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Question of the day CR (LAW OF DEMAND): SOLUTION

•

Which of the following best completes the passage below?

      The law of demand states that, if all other factors remain equal, the higher the price of a good,the less people will consume that good. In other words, the higher the price, the lower the quantity demanded. This principle is illustrated when_____________ .

•(A) Company A has a monopoly over the widget market so an increase in widget prices has little effect on the quantity demanded

•(B) a manufacturer of luxury cars noticed that its customer base is relatively  unresponsive to changes in price

•(C) a city experiences an increase in both gasoline prices and the number of  people taking public transportation

•(D) an increase in the number of computer retailers led to a decrease in the  average price of computers

•(E) a reduction in the price of oranges from $2 per pound to $1 per pound results in 75 pounds of oranges being sold as opposed to 50 pounds 

SOLUTION

SO we have to find the best option which illustrates the law of demand....ie higher the price of the good less is the demand.

lets look at the options one by one

a) OPTION A- monopoly is a situation where only one brand produces a certain product in a market...in such a situation weather the company chooses to increase or decrease the price does not have much bearing on its demand. customer does not have much option except to buy the same brand in same quantity. demand remains unaffected by price.not a good eg of law of demand.

b) OPTION B- similar would be the case with luxury cars.. generally the ultra rich go for buying such cars. even if there is some increase or decrease in the price it does not affect this segment. The demand again unresponsive to change in price.. not a good example

c)OPTION C- looks like a good one on initial reading.Higher the price of gasoline more is the no of ppl taking public transport ..This can imply that now less gasoline is being purchased as ppl switching from private vehicles to public transport. but alternatively one possibility can also be that the over all population of city has increased ( causing more ppl to take public transport),hence this option is open to many possibilities... so not a very strong example.

d)  OPTION D-no of retailers does not mean the no of computers sold. there might be 100 deals but the actual sale( demand) might still be zero..to relate price and no of retailers is not what we are supposed to do.

e) OPTION E- a perfect example of law of demand....without any ambiguity.

OPTION E is the answer

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