Book '1984'

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DhruvXVII: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 52; Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:07 am; Location: Pune, India; GMAT Score:680

by DhruvXVII » Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:23 pm

Columnist: George Orwell’s book 1984 has exercised much influence on a great number of this newspaper’s readers. One thousand readers were surveyed and asked to name the one book that had the most influence on their lives. The book chosen most often was the Bible; 1984 was second.

The answer to which one of the following questions would most help in evaluating the columnist’s argument?

A. How many books had each person surveyed read?

B. How many people chose books other than 1984?

C. How many people read the columnist’s newspaper?

D. How many books by George Orwell other than 1984 were chosen?

E. How many of those surveyed had actually read the books they chose?

OA B

Can someone please explain. I picked E.

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:23 pm

chieftang: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 218; Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 8:05 pmFollowed by: 4 members; Thanked: 26 times

by chieftang » Tue Dec 06, 2011 4:55 pm

This one tripped me up too, but it just dawned on me...

The number of books other than 1984 lets us know how many people out of 1000 chose 1984!

(# that chose 1984) + (# that didn't choose 1984) = 1000

Based on that info, we can decide if the author's claim is valid. Just because 1984 came in second place, doesn't necessarily mean that it was chosen by a high number of readers. We need raw data. B gives us that raw data, in a slightly roundabout way.

gunjan1208: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 416; Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:48 amFollowed by: 6 members; Thanked: 28 times

by gunjan1208 » Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:59 pm

Nice explanation.....I was tripped on this one, too:)

vikram4689: Legendary Member; Posts: 1325; Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:24 amFollowed by: 14 members; Thanked: 105 times

by vikram4689 » Sat Apr 07, 2012 8:30 pm

IMO BGeorge Orwell’s book 1984 has exercised much influence on a great number of this newspaper’s readers
BOLD PART is what we want to evaluate. Total number=1000, if we can find how many people chose books other than 1984 we can effectively find HOW MANY PEOPLE CHOSE 1984 and that is what we WANT !!!

See my reply at below link to follow the strategy for these type of ques.
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