Alex Cake - Manhattan

Expert replies

ket: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 93; Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:07 am; Thanked: 7 times

by ket » Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:30 pm

Normally it takes a week for a cake to become moldy in a refrigerator. The cake in Alex's refrigerator is moldy. Therefore, the cake in Alex's refrigerator must be at least a week old.

Which of the following, if true, strengthens the conclusion?

(A) Alex's refrigerator has not been cleaned in two years

(B) A blown fuse in Alex's building has deprived his refrigerator of electricity for the past five days.

(C)The cake had just been baked when it was placed in Alex's refrigerator; it has remained there ever since.

(D)A recent study demonstrated that 95% of refrigerators currently in use will keep a cake fresh for one week.

(E)The cake was baked on a Tuesday.

Please provide your explanations

I will post OA afterwards.

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:30 pm

scoobydooby: Legendary Member; Posts: 1035; Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:56 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 104 times

by scoobydooby » Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:54 pm

would go for D

A. doesnt affect argument

B. weakens. cake may have been less than 7 days and got moldy

C. doesnt affect argument. no clue how long cake was in the refridgerator.

D. correct IMO. if cake remains fresh for a week. it must be lying over a week to get moldy. strengthens

E. irrelevant

schumi_gmat: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 377; Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:30 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 15 times

by schumi_gmat » Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:42 am

IMO D

Explanation same as scooby

vinaynp: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 154; Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:55 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 5 times

by vinaynp » Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:47 am

IMO D). For reasons explained in previous post.

awesomeusername: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 226; Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:27 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 23 times

by awesomeusername » Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:53 am

I will have to go with (C).

What if the cake were left in the hot sun for 3 days, then shoved in the 'fridge? The it's certainly possible for the cake to have started to form mold after a few days, rather than a week. Statement (C) clears this from being possible. So I believe (C) strengthens the statement.

Constant dripping hollows out a stone.
-Lucretius

S.A: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2009 9:07 am

by S.A » Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:21 pm

It has to be D ( Using POE)

OA please?

amazonviper: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 109; Joined: Mon May 04, 2009 8:22 pm; Location: Indy; Thanked: 3 times

Re: Alex Cake - Manhattan

by amazonviper » Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:42 pm

ket wrote:Normally it takes a week for a cake to become moldy in a refrigerator. The cake in Alex's refrigerator is moldy. Therefore, the cake in Alex's refrigerator must be at least a week old.

Which of the following, if true, strengthens the conclusion?

(A) Alex's refrigerator has not been cleaned in two years

(B) A blown fuse in Alex's building has deprived his refrigerator of electricity for the past five days.

(C)The cake had just been baked when it was placed in Alex's refrigerator; it has remained there ever since.

(D)A recent study demonstrated that 95% of refrigerators currently in use will keep a cake fresh for one week.

(E)The cake was baked on a Tuesday.

Please provide your explanations

I will post OA afterwards.

My first shot was C . But on a more thorough note I came up with D for reason explained above. OA please.

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maverick2000: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 9; Joined: Sun Jul 13, 2008 5:03 am

by maverick2000 » Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:22 pm

I go with C too.

mehravikas: Legendary Member; Posts: 1161; Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 2:52 amFollowed by: 1 member; Location: Sydney; Thanked: 23 times

by mehravikas » Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:34 pm

IMO - D

ket: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 93; Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:07 am; Thanked: 7 times

by ket » Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:50 pm

Thank you everyone for your posts.

Well, here is the answer OAC and down there see explanation. Look at D - Irrelevant

:) This test is driving me crazy

and I am kind of still not fully understanding C...

(C) CORRECT. Strengthen. If the cake had not been fresh when it was placed in the refrigerator, or if it had not been in the refrigerator continuously since then, it might have gotten moldy in less than a week. Therefore, knowing that the cake was fresh when it was placed in the refrigerator, and that it has been there ever since, gives us reason to think that the cake has been aging in the refrigerator at a normal rate.

(D) Irrelevant. This study only provides evidence to support the initial premise in the argument, namely, that "normally it takes a week for a cake to become moldy in a refrigerator." This answer choice does not state whether or not Alex's refrigerator is among the 95%; nor do we know anything else about this specific situation.

Vemuri: Legendary Member; Posts: 682; Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:40 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 32 times

by Vemuri » Mon Jun 15, 2009 10:42 pm

Good question. Thanks for posting

rahul.s: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 324; Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 6:29 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 17 times

by rahul.s » Sat Feb 13, 2010 3:23 am

yeah, good problem. i went with D as well. but in the end, C makes much more sense.

joseph32: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 303; Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 10:23 am

by joseph32 » Sun May 15, 2016 11:26 pm

I agree with you guys. I also think that the right answer is D

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