Critical Reasoning

A rare disease, malicitis, is being diagnosed with increasing frequency. The number of cases reported this year is more than double the number reported four years ago. The government should now allocate more funds for treatment and prevention of malicitis.

All of the following, if true, would weaken the conclusion except

A. funds already available for research in malicitis are currently under-utilized
B. a new test employed for the first time this year detects malicitis at a considerably earlier stage in the development of the disease
C. the number of cases reported this year represents the same fraction of the population as reported in all of the last five years
D. a committee of experts reviewed the funding four years ago
E. a private foundation has committed sufficient funds to cover treatment and prevention needs as well as research for the next five years

my concern: i want to understand as how C weakens the argument? option C states that percentage of people who have been affected by this disease has remained same. this implies that if the The number of cases reported this year is more than double the number reported four years ago THEN all we know for sure is that POPULATION of this town might have increased. but how does it prevent us from increasing the funding ?

aditya8062 wrote:my concern: i want to understand as how C weakens the argument? option C states that percentage of people who have been affected by this disease has remained same. this implies that if the The number of cases reported this year is more than double the number reported four years ago THEN all we know for sure is that POPULATION of this town might have increased. but how does it prevent us from increasing the funding ?

Generally, to allocate means to distribute a fraction of the total amount.

Conclusion: The government should now allocate more funds for the treatment and prevention of malicitis.
In other words, the government should devote a greater fraction of its total budget to the treatment and prevention of malicitis.

C: The number of cases reported this year represents the same fraction of the population as reported in all of the last five years.
Here, the same fraction of the total population is contracting malicitis, WEAKENING the conclusion that a greater fraction of the total budget should be allocated for the treatment and prevention of malicitis.
Eliminate C.

Thanks guru

Here, the same fraction of the total population is contracting malicitis, WEAKENING the conclusion that a greater fraction of the total budget should be allocated for the treatment and prevention of malicitis

lets say that the "same fraction" is 10 % of the total population .now it is said in the premise that "The number of cases reported this year is more than double the number reported four years ago."
lets say we have following figures:
in 2014: population is 400
case reported: 40
in 2010: population =90
cases reported: 18

i feel if i invest more money in this situation then there is a possibility that i might reduce this disease, after all more money will buy more medicine and may be i might bring in more doctors to cure this disease