Comedians... Tough one...

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nervesofsteel: Legendary Member; Posts: 594; Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:51 pm; Thanked: 12 times

by nervesofsteel » Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:11 am

All of the best comedians have had unhappy childhoods. Yet, many people who have had happy childhoods are good comedians, and some good comedians who have had miserably unhappy childhoods are happy adults.
If the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following CANNOT be true?

(A) The proportion of good comedians who had unhappy childhoods is greater than the proportion of the best comedians who did.
(B) Some good comedians have had unhappy childhoods and are unhappy adults.
(C) Most of the best comedians are happy adults.
(D) More good comedians have had unhappy childhoods than have had happy childhoods.
(E) The proportion of comedians who are happy adults is higher than the proportion who are unhappy adults.

OA A

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:11 am

bignasty666: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 79; Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 8:02 am; Thanked: 1 times

by bignasty666 » Fri Jul 31, 2009 8:59 am

obviously A.. as were talking proprtions here...

pandeyvineet24: Legendary Member; Posts: 527; Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:14 am; Location: Atlanta; Thanked: 17 times

by pandeyvineet24 » Fri Jul 31, 2009 9:17 am

I picked B. This was really tough

bignasty666 wrote:obviously A.. as were talking proprtions here...

The thing which i am struggling to get hold of is How can we know the proportions of the 2 different group from the question stem ?

"All of the best comedians have had unhappy childhoods. Yet, many people who have had happy childhoods are good comedians"

bignasty666: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 79; Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 8:02 am; Thanked: 1 times

Re: Comedians... Tough one...

by bignasty666 » Fri Jul 31, 2009 9:25 am

nervesofsteel wrote:All of the best comedians have had unhappy childhoods. Yet, many people who have had happy childhoods are good comedians, and some good comedians who have had miserably unhappy childhoods are happy adults.
If the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following CANNOT be true?

(A) The proportion of good comedians who had unhappy childhoods is greater than the proportion of the best comedians who did.
(B) Some good comedians have had unhappy childhoods and are unhappy adults.
(C) Most of the best comedians are happy adults.
(D) More good comedians have had unhappy childhoods than have had happy childhoods.
(E) The proportion of comedians who are happy adults is higher than the proportion who are unhappy adults.

OA A

vineet as u can see the q is asking which CANNOT be true..A says proportion of good comedians who had UNHAPPY childhoods is greater than proprtion of best comedians..
The stem says all best comedians had unhappy childhood WHICH MEANS 100%...OR 1/1 IN TERMS OF PROPRTION..the stem also says that some good comedians had happy chilldhoods ..from this we deduce the "good comedians" have had proprtionately less unhappy childhoods than the best comedians as clearly it cannot be 100% or proportion wise 1/1...hence A cannot be true.

im sorry i suck at explaining this is the best i can do

nervesofsteel: Legendary Member; Posts: 594; Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:51 pm; Thanked: 12 times

by nervesofsteel » Fri Jul 31, 2009 11:14 am

yes i got it now..

Thanks

bignasty666: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 79; Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 8:02 am; Thanked: 1 times

by bignasty666 » Fri Jul 31, 2009 11:20 am

nervesofsteel wrote:yes i got it now..

Thanks

rep me dude

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

by amazonviper » Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:07 pm

Yeah I chose A right away and I did not read the other choices. Good explanation Bugnasty. Saved me from typing the same stuff

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

by joseph32 » Sun May 15, 2016 8:48 pm

I would go with option A as the correct option

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