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Pretzel vendor

by Needgmat » Fri Sep 02, 2016 6:49 am

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Pretzel vendor: The new license fee for operating a pretzel stand outside the art museum is prohibitively expensive. Charging typical prices, a vendor would need to sell an average of 25 pretzels per hour to break even. At my stand outside city hall, I average only 15 per hour. Therefore, I could not break even running a pretzel stand outside the art museum, much less turn a profit.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the pretzel vendor's argument?

A) There is currently no license fee for operating a pretzel stand outside the city hall.

B) Pretzel vendors who operate stand outside the art museum were making a profit before the imposition of the new license fee.

C) The number of pretzel stand outside the art museum is no greater than the number of pretzel stands now outside city hall.

D) People who buy pretzels at pretzel stans are most likely to do so during the hours at which the art museum is open to the public.

E) Fewer people passing the art museum than passing city hall are likely to buy pretzels.

OAE

Please explain.

Many thanks in advance.

Kavin
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by MartyMurray » Fri Sep 02, 2016 11:08 am

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Key to getting this right is sorting out the train of the argument.

Premise: To break even while paying the fees a vendor has to sell 25 pretzels per hour.

Premise: A certain stand when positioned outside city hall averages 15 pretzels per hour.

Conclusion: Therefore the same stand positioned outside the museum would not break even.

Wait a minute though. Selling pretzels outside city hall may not be the same as selling pretzels outside the museum. Maybe that possible difference will somehow play a part in choosing the right answer.

(A) This has no bearing on the fee for selling at or the number of pretzels sold at the museum.

(B) I guess this answer could trap you if you don't notice that the point is not that profitability will be reduced from previous levels.

(C) This does not really add support to the argument. It even leaves open the possibility that there are fewer stands outside the museum, in which case business conditions at the museum would be better than they are at city hall.

(D) So? We could make up some story that would show how this supports the argument, but really there is no clear logical reason why it does.

(E) This adds new information and tends to answer our question about whether the conditions outside city hall are the same as those outside the museum. Apparently the conditions outside the museum are not as good as those outside city hall. Fewer people buy pretzels outside the museum. So I guess selling 25 per hour is even harder outside the museum than it is outside city hall.

That having been said, it's not clear that a vendor would sell outside the museum fewer pretzels than the vendor would sell outside city hall, because there may be more vendors outside city hall competing for customers.

Still, since the rest of the choices add nothing or are pretty much completely irrelevant, the best answer is E.
Marty Murray
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by Needgmat » Sat Sep 03, 2016 9:39 pm

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Marty Murray wrote:Key to getting this right is sorting out the train of the argument.

Premise: To break even while paying the fees a vendor has to sell 25 pretzels per hour.

Premise: A certain stand when positioned outside city hall averages 15 pretzels per hour.

Conclusion: Therefore the same stand positioned outside the museum would not break even.

Wait a minute though. Selling pretzels outside city hall may not be the same as selling pretzels outside the museum. Maybe that possible difference will somehow play a part in choosing the right answer.

(A) This has no bearing on the fee for selling at or the number of pretzels sold at the museum.

(B) I guess this answer could trap you if you don't notice that the point is not that profitability will be reduced from previous levels.

(C) This does not really add support to the argument. It even leaves open the possibility that there are fewer stands outside the museum, in which case business conditions at the museum would be better than they are at city hall.

(D) So? We could make up some story that would show how this supports the argument, but really there is no clear logical reason why it does.

(E) This adds new information and tends to answer our question about whether the conditions outside city hall are the same as those outside the museum. Apparently the conditions outside the museum are not as good as those outside city hall. Fewer people buy pretzels outside the museum. So I guess selling 25 per hour is even harder outside the museum than it is outside city hall.

That having been said, it's not clear that a vendor would sell outside the museum fewer pretzels than the vendor would sell outside city hall, because there may be more vendors outside city hall competing for customers.

Still, since the rest of the choices add nothing or are pretty much completely irrelevant, the best answer is E
Hi Marty ,

Thanks for your reply. All clear.

Thanks,
Kavin
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