Inference problem

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Inference problem

by paes » Sat Jun 26, 2010 12:15 am
Over an eleven-month period, during which national retail computer sales remained stable at 400,000 units per month, sales by the Friendly Computer Stores chain rose 200 percent, increasing the chain's share of the total market to 7 percent. Other retail stores tried, without success, to attract customers away from the Friendly chain. Then regulation X was imposed on all computer retailers by the federal government. In the ensuing months, Friendly's total share of the market fell to 4 percent, even though its monthly sales volume remained at the same level it had reached just prior to the enactment of regulation X.

Each of the following, in conjunction with the information presented above, could be true EXCEPT:

(1) All other computer retailers experienced a drop in their sales volume during the four-month period following the enactment of regulation X.

(2) All other computer companies lost some market share during the four-month period prior to the enactment of regulation X.

(3) The enactment of regulation X provided the Friendly chain's competitors with an advantage they did not previously have.

(4) The enactment of regulation X did not provide the Friendly chain's competitors with an advantage they did not previously have; other dramatic changes in other market forces caused the decline in the Friendly chain's market share.

(5) In the period following the enactment of regulation X, many new computer retailers that specialized in low-budget computers entered the marketplace.

[spoiler]OA is D, while I selected A.
Please share your thoughts.
Source : Princeton[/spoiler]
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by pradeepkaushal9518 » Sat Jun 26, 2010 12:54 am
A canot be correct answer as it is true acording to the argument we need statement which is not true.

A is true as during the our month period of enactment of regulation X sales of computer declined for all other computer retailers.

only D is not true as it stating that there are some other dramatic change happened.

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by Shawshank » Sat Jun 26, 2010 1:36 am
pradeepkaushal9518 wrote:A canot be correct answer as it is true acording to the argument we need statement which is not true.

A is true as during the our month period of enactment of regulation X sales of computer declined for all other computer retailers.

only D is not true as it stating that there are some other dramatic change happened.
IMO -- A

hey buddy,
Whre is it mentioned that during the 4 month period after the enactment of reg X all companies sales declined.

Have I missed something here..
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by hardik.jadeja » Sat Jun 26, 2010 2:00 am
paes wrote:OA is D, while I selected A.
Please share your thoughts.
Source : Princeton[/spoiler]
The answer should be A.

Lets see, the passage says that national retail computer sales remained stable at 400,000 units per month and the market share of Friendly Computer Stores was 7% at the end of eleven-month period.

So 7% of 400,000 is 28000. (sales volume of other computer retailers - 372,000 and sales volume of Friendly - 28,000)

The passage further says that once regulation X was imposed, Friendly's total share of the market fell to 4 percent but its monthly sales volume remained at the same level (28000 units per month).

Option A says that All other computer retailers experienced a drop in their sales volume during the four-month period following the enactment of regulation X.

So if all other computer retailers experienced a drop in their sales volume, then their monthly sales volume of 372,000 must have decreased. lets say it fell to 322,000. During the same period, the Friendly's total monthly sales volume remained the same, 28000 units per month.

total industry sales volume (322,000+ 28000 = 350,000)
28000 is 8% of 350,000.

As we can see here, the market share of Friendly has increased from 7% to 8%. But the passage says that it fell to 4 percent. So I think option A doesn't agree to the information given in the passage. I would also pick A.

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by paes » Sat Jun 26, 2010 3:47 am
Thanks Jadeja and Shawshank.

I selected A with the same reasoning.

But as I wrote that OA is D, which is out of my understanding.

The problem is from one of Princetion tests.

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by paddle_sweep » Sat Jun 26, 2010 9:26 pm
I pick 'A'. Not sure as to how 'D' could be the answer. Could somebody explain 'D',if that's the correct answer?