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Cigarettes & tobacoo

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Cigarettes & tobacoo

by gmat740 » Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:51 pm
After doing some searching, I came up with no conclusion, so I am posting this question for discussion(although, you may find this question very common)

I want the reasoning to eliminate the wrong ones.

From 1973 to 1976, total United States consumption of cigarettes increased 3.4 percent, and total sales of chewing tobacco rose 18.0 percent. During the same period, total United States population increased 5.0 percent.
If the statements above are true, which of the following conclusions can be properly drawn?

A. United States manufacturers of tobacco products had higher profits in 1976 than in 1973.
B. Per capita consumption of cigarettes in the United States was lower in 1976 than in 1973.
C. The proportion of nonsmokers in the United States population dropped slightly between 1973 and 1976.
D. United States manufacturers of tobacco products realize a lower profit on cigarettes than on chewing tobacco.
E. A large percentage of United States smokers switched from cigarettes to chewing tobacco between 1973 and 1976
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by ananda271181 » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:23 pm
Here is my reasoning for this question: Only B and C are relevant to the scope of the text. The consumption of cigarettes has gone up by 3.4 %, while the population has increased by 5% in the same period. So evidently there is some reduction in consumption of cigarettes. The problem which C is that one cannot be sure whether the number of non smokers had increased or the smokers had reduced their consumption. But either way, per capita consumption has reduced. Hence B is correct.
Ananda Chakraborty
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by imhimanshu » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:43 pm
Since population increased at higher rate than cigarettes so per capita consumption would have been decreased.
Hence B.
We cant infer about profits. so, A and D Out.
E and C , I striked ot in a first go...it looked OOS to me.
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by ogbeni » Thu Jul 30, 2009 2:46 pm
gmat740

For numerical questions, I think it helps to get into Quant Mode (i.e create tables/chars/write numbers down)

First Per Capita Defintion = Per Head = some quantity/ number of people.


We have 3 figures here: Consumption of Cigarettes, Total Sales of Chewing Tobacco and Total US Population

Assuming all 3 figures are all "1" in 1973 then the increase in 1976 would be
Consumption of Cigarettes: 1--> 1.034
Total Sales of Chewing Tobacco: 1-->1.18
Total US Population: 1--> 1.05

Answers - Remember Conclusion questions have to be true
A. So they had higher profits, what if their costs increased in higher numbers? (Profits = Revenue - Costs) -ELIMINATE
B. From Per Capita Definition above we know that the 1976 numbers will always be higher because the denominator -Total US population is higher - in the calculation (Total Consumption of Cigarettes/Total US Population) will always be greater than the denominator for the 1973 numbers - CORRECT
C. We are not given any information about non smokers - cannot make any assumptions here - ELIMINATE
D. We are not given any information that allows us to come to this conclusion. There is nothing about costs stated - ELIMINATE
E. Again nothing in the stimulus to allow us make such a jump to conclusion. - ELIMINATE
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B

by sumank8216 » Thu Jul 30, 2009 4:49 pm
B
No of people in 1973 : 1000
cig smokers:100
tabocao chew=100

1976
1050
104
118

per capita cig smoking in 1973 =100/1000=.1
in 1976=104/1050=.09.

C is wrong as % increase is give from 1973 to 1976. The actual percentage of smokers and people chewing Tobacco is not given , so we can not find out the % of non smokers.
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IMO C

by hemant.dunga » Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:53 pm
There can be only either smokers or non-smokers in US. If percentage of smokers has increased that means overall proportion of smokers in US has increased, assuming total population in the US is same both years.



B is wrong, because it only talks about cigarettes and doesn't address whole tobacco industry, whereas C can be inferred from all the statements given in the stimuli.


Anybody wanna refute my reasoning, plz post ur explanation.
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by joseph32 » Sun May 15, 2016 8:39 pm
Answer B seems to be logical one out of other answer choices
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