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GMATPrep - Park Rangers, Rhinoceroses, fertility

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GMATPrep - Park Rangers, Rhinoceroses, fertility

by danielchu » Sat Dec 27, 2008 8:04 pm
In a certain wildlife park, park rangers are able to track the movements of many rhinoceroses because those animals wear radio collars. When, as often happens, a collar slips off, it is put back on. Putting a collar on a rhinoceros involves immobilizing the animal by shooting it with a tranquilizer dart. Female rhinoceroses that have been frequently recollared have significantly lower fertility rates than uncollared females. Probably, therefore, some substance in the tranquilizer inhibits fertility.

In evaluating the argument, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?

A. Whether there are more collared female rhinoceroses than uncollared female rhinoceroses in the park.
B. How the tranquilizer that is used for immobilizing rhinoceroses differs, if at all, from tranquilizers used in working with other large mammals
C. How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts to immobilize rhinoceroses for reasons other than attaching radio collars
D. Whether male rhinoceroses in the wildlife park lose their collars any more often than the park’s female rhinoceroses do
E. Whether radio collars are the only practical means that park rangers have for tracking the movements of rhinoceroses in the park


The answer is (C).

But (C) looks very irrelevant because how often the tranquilizer darts are used for reasons other than attaching radio collars is irrelevant. We want to know whether there are some substances in the tranquilizer inhibits fertility right? What can the frequency of the usage for other reasons entail?
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by 4meonly » Sun Dec 28, 2008 3:26 am
Premise:
Female rhinoceroses that have been frequently recollared (tranquilized)have significantly lower fertility rates than uncollared females.

Conclision:
Probably, therefore, some substance in the tranquilizer inhibits fertility.

To evaluate the argument we should strengthen+weaken the logic that A (tranquilization) causes B (lower fertility rates).
This can be strengthened/weakened by providing the data about how often female rhinoceroses are tranquilized.

C says it
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by nitya34 » Wed Jul 01, 2009 1:56 am
why not D?
Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.
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by graghukalyan » Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:24 am
Am not sure between C & D

Premise:
Female rhinoceroses that have been frequently recollared (tranquilized)have significantly lower fertility rates than uncollared females.

Conclision:
Probably, therefore, some substance in the tranquilizer inhibits fertility.

C. How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts to immobilize rhinoceroses for reasons other than attaching radio collars
D. Whether male rhinoceroses in the wildlife park lose their collars any more often than the park’s female rhinoceroses do

My viewpoint wrt option D , the rate of male rhinos losing their collars too has an impact on whether the cause for decrease in fertility should b solely attributed to the tranquilisation of females rhinos or is it because of the male rhinos ?

Pls comment : Is this analysis a lil far-fetched in GMAT ?
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by madhur_ahuja » Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:24 am
Why not A ? If there are very large no. of collared females, lets say 100 as compared to uncollared, lets say 5. Then this comparison of infertility is irrevelant, since lower fertility rate could be due to other reasons in those 5.
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Re: GMATPrep - Park Rangers, Rhinoceroses, fertility

by ketkoag » Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:06 am
danielchu wrote:In a certain wildlife park, park rangers are able to track the movements of many rhinoceroses because those animals wear radio collars. When, as often happens, a collar slips off, it is put back on. Putting a collar on a rhinoceros involves immobilizing the animal by shooting it with a tranquilizer dart. Female rhinoceroses that have been frequently recollared have significantly lower fertility rates than uncollared females. Probably, therefore, some substance in the tranquilizer inhibits fertility.

In evaluating the argument, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?

A. Whether there are more collared female rhinoceroses than uncollared female rhinoceroses in the park.
B. How the tranquilizer that is used for immobilizing rhinoceroses differs, if at all, from tranquilizers used in working with other large mammals
C. How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts to immobilize rhinoceroses for reasons other than attaching radio collars
D. Whether male rhinoceroses in the wildlife park lose their collars any more often than the park’s female rhinoceroses do
E. Whether radio collars are the only practical means that park rangers have for tracking the movements of rhinoceroses in the park
C is the best answer among the choices given.. in CR if a answer choice is partly true and the other choices are not at all true then the option that is partly true should be the correct answer.. same is here.. i agree that there might be many possibilities regarding the correct answer but C correctly states that we need to check how often the tranquilizers are used for the purpose other than what is mentioned in the stimuli... It might be possible that female rhinos without the radio collars can be tranquilized more than the females with collars for other purpose and hence the tranquilizer is not responsible for the reduction in fertility, there might be some other reason why the fertility has been decreased..
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by helviolc » Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:37 pm
In other words, alternative C could mean: we need to assess how often uncollared females are shot with tranquilizers as well to have a feasible comparison - if uncollared females were shot as many times as the collared ones, than the tranquilizer might not be the reason for the fertility fall.
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Re: GMATPrep - Park Rangers, Rhinoceroses, fertility

by shahdevine » Tue Aug 11, 2009 2:09 pm
danielchu wrote:In a certain wildlife park, park rangers are able to track the movements of many rhinoceroses because those animals wear radio collars. When, as often happens, a collar slips off, it is put back on. Putting a collar on a rhinoceros involves immobilizing the animal by shooting it with a tranquilizer dart. Female rhinoceroses that have been frequently recollared have significantly lower fertility rates than uncollared females. Probably, therefore, some substance in the tranquilizer inhibits fertility.

In evaluating the argument, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?

A. Whether there are more collared female rhinoceroses than uncollared female rhinoceroses in the park.
B. How the tranquilizer that is used for immobilizing rhinoceroses differs, if at all, from tranquilizers used in working with other large mammals
C. How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts to immobilize rhinoceroses for reasons other than attaching radio collars
D. Whether male rhinoceroses in the wildlife park lose their collars any more often than the park’s female rhinoceroses do
E. Whether radio collars are the only practical means that park rangers have for tracking the movements of rhinoceroses in the park


The answer is (C).



The answer is C because we need to determine whether or not there is a causal link with the tranquilizer guns (which happen during radio collaring) and the infertility of female rhinoceros. This can only be determined by frequency distribution. This event of infertility could be a coincidence, or an abberation. However if there is a preponderance of tranquilizing female rhinos the argument the author is making is strengthened. The causal link he is making would have stronger correlation. FYI...this is a statistical critical reasoning prob...


you got this man!
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by dgg2 » Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:21 am
thank you for a complete answer that makes sense :P
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by aravindb » Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:42 pm
Lets dissect each answer

A. Whether there are more collared female rhinoceroses than uncollared female rhinoceroses in the park.

the number of collared vs uncollared is unimportant. Whether tranquilizer inhibits fertility is important.

B. How the tranquilizer that is used for immobilizing rhinoceroses differs, if at all, from tranquilizers used in working with other large mammals
although i picked this answer, one caveat is the use of the word 'other mammals' , just be alert.don't eliminate it completely.i thought , may be the tranquilizer used for rhinos has a different component which causes infertility ..

Yes : if tranquilizer is different, it may strengthen or weaken the argument...
No : if tranq.. is not different, it strengthens the argument

C. How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts to immobilize rhinoceroses for reasons other than attaching radio collars
this is the correct answer , because if tranquilizer darts are used for other purposes, then uncollared females
must also have low fertility, this weakens the argument
Yes: very often.. => arg is weakened
No : very less number of times => arg is strengthened

D. Whether male rhinoceroses in the wildlife park lose their collars any more often than the park's female rhinoceroses do
alert your senses when they talk about a different object.
what so male rhinos lose collars than females?
let them lose.. males dont reproduce.. even if they reproduce, the arg.. is concened abt female fertility

E. Whether radio collars are the only practical means that park rangers have for tracking the movements of rhinoceroses in the park

alert your senses , <only practical means> , no where it is mentioned that xyz is the only way.
and it does not impact your argument...
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by paes » Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:57 pm
You have given a good explanation, relating it to statistical.

But your response is not justifying to the line 'other than attaching radio collars '
If C is
How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts to immobilize rhinoceroses.
then C is a perfect answer, but with the lining 'other than attaching radio collars'
I don't find C as the perfect one.
shahdevine wrote:
danielchu wrote:In a certain wildlife park, park rangers are able to track the movements of many rhinoceroses because those animals wear radio collars. When, as often happens, a collar slips off, it is put back on. Putting a collar on a rhinoceros involves immobilizing the animal by shooting it with a tranquilizer dart. Female rhinoceroses that have been frequently recollared have significantly lower fertility rates than uncollared females. Probably, therefore, some substance in the tranquilizer inhibits fertility.

In evaluating the argument, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?

A. Whether there are more collared female rhinoceroses than uncollared female rhinoceroses in the park.
B. How the tranquilizer that is used for immobilizing rhinoceroses differs, if at all, from tranquilizers used in working with other large mammals
C. How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts to immobilize rhinoceroses for reasons other than attaching radio collars
D. Whether male rhinoceroses in the wildlife park lose their collars any more often than the park�s female rhinoceroses do
E. Whether radio collars are the only practical means that park rangers have for tracking the movements of rhinoceroses in the park


The answer is (C).



The answer is C because we need to determine whether or not there is a causal link with the tranquilizer guns (which happen during radio collaring) and the infertility of female rhinoceros. This can only be determined by frequency distribution. This event of infertility could be a coincidence, or an abberation. However if there is a preponderance of tranquilizing female rhinos the argument the author is making is strengthened. The causal link he is making would have stronger correlation. FYI...this is a statistical critical reasoning prob...


you got this man!
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by Testluv » Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:36 pm
Hi paes,

This is a relevant information question. The correct answer will be something where, if it goes one way it will strengthen the argument. If it goes the other way, it will weaken the argument. We can call this the "hybrid strengthen/weaken test".

The argument is: Because females who are frequently recollared have lower fertility rates than females who are not, there is a substance in the tranquilizer dart (the tranq. dart is used in the process of recollaring) that is (probably) causing the infertility.

Let's apply the test to choice C:
C. How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts to immobilize rhinoceroses for reasons other than attaching radio collars
If they use the darts VERY frequently for a whole bunch of other reasons, then females who are recollared frequently may have, more or less, equal exposure to the dart relative to all the other rhinos. In that case, the connection between the dart and infertility is weakened--the argument is weakened.

Conversely, if they don't use the dart for any reason other than to recollar, then the link between the dart and infertility is strengthened--the argument is strengthened.

Let's briefly consider the other choices:

Choice A is irrelevant--we don't care about the numbers of collared versus uncollared females. The point is that of those collared infertility incidence is greater. This choice invites you to conflate numbers with percents.
Choice B--"other large mammals"--clearly outside the scope.
Choice D--irrelevant--nothing about the dart.
Choice E--this has nothing to do with the argument.
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by paes » Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:14 am
Testluv,

C can be taken by 2 ways.


1. How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts --> with respect to all the animals in the park.
2. How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts -> with respect to the female rhino only.

Your explanation is right with 1.
But
2nd interpretation looks more logical to me and then C does not justify the answer.


Provide Yes :

If they use the darts VERY frequently for a whole bunch of other reasons, -> doesn't weaken the statement

No

If they don't use the darts for a whole bunch of other reasons, -> does not weaken the statement.
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by Testluv » Wed Jun 16, 2010 12:07 pm
Hi paes,

Choice C does not limit itself to female rhinos. It talks about "rhinoceroses". So, we can't impose a restriction because that would be an assumption on our part. Hope that makes sense.
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by missionGMAT007 » Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:27 pm
ketkoag wrote:
danielchu wrote:In a certain wildlife park, park rangers are able to track the movements of many rhinoceroses because those animals wear radio collars. When, as often happens, a collar slips off, it is put back on. Putting a collar on a rhinoceros involves immobilizing the animal by shooting it with a tranquilizer dart. Female rhinoceroses that have been frequently recollared have significantly lower fertility rates than uncollared females. Probably, therefore, some substance in the tranquilizer inhibits fertility.

In evaluating the argument, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?

A. Whether there are more collared female rhinoceroses than uncollared female rhinoceroses in the park.
B. How the tranquilizer that is used for immobilizing rhinoceroses differs, if at all, from tranquilizers used in working with other large mammals
C. How often park rangers need to use tranquilizer darts to immobilize rhinoceroses for reasons other than attaching radio collars
D. Whether male rhinoceroses in the wildlife park lose their collars any more often than the park�s female rhinoceroses do
E. Whether radio collars are the only practical means that park rangers have for tracking the movements of rhinoceroses in the park
C is the best answer among the choices given.. in CR if a answer choice is partly true and the other choices are not at all true then the option that is partly true should be the correct answer.. same is here.. i agree that there might be many possibilities regarding the correct answer but C correctly states that we need to check how often the tranquilizers are used for the purpose other than what is mentioned in the stimuli... It might be possible that female rhinos without the radio collars can be tranquilized more than the females with collars for other purpose and hence the tranquilizer is not responsible for the reduction in fertility, there might be some other reason why the fertility has been decreased..
that was awesome!
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