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Baseball team

by joyseychow » Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:19 am
A certain baseball team has just completed its season. In stadiums that seat 20,000 or fewer people, the team averaged 1 home run per game; in stadiums that seat between 20,000 and 40,000 people, the team averaged 2 home runs per game; and, in stadiums that seat 40,000 or more people, the team averaged 3 home runs per game. Obviously, the excitement of playing in front of large crowds motivated the team to hit more home runs.

Assuming that all stadiums during the season were filled to capacity, which of the following, if true, most undermines the argument above?
A) The team's leading home run hitter hit more home runs in mid-sized stadiums than in large stadiums.

B) The fans in the larger stadiums often cheered against the team.

C) The team averaged only 2 home runs per game when playing in the league's largest stadium.

D) In order to create seating for the additional fans, the outfield walls in the larger stadiums were constructed closer to home base.

E) The team's announcer cited crowd noise as a major motivator for the team.

What's wrong with A?
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by Testluv » Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:45 am
What's wrong with A?
Choice A only discusses the leading home run hitter. Suppose the leading home runner hit 50 home runs. It could be the case that every single other player on the team hit 49 home runs, and that they all hit more home runs in large stadiums than in small stadiums.

____________

This is a strange question. The passage is ambiguous, and logically inconsistent. The second sentence begins "In stadiums that seat 20, 000 or fewer people, the team averaged 1 home run per game; in stadiums that seat between 20, 000 and 40, 000 people..."

So if a stadium seated exactly 20,000 people would it be regarded as small or medium? According to the above, it would be both.

It should have read "In stadiums that seat under 20,000 people...; in stadiums that seat between 20,000 and 40,000 people..." OR "In stadiums that seat 20,000 or fewer people...; in stadiums that seat over 20,000 up to and including 40,000".

The passage makes the same mistake at 40,000 people.

While this may seem a minor problem, it would never happen on an official GMAT question, and it is indicative of sloppy question design...What is the source of this question? (According to the forum rules, you are always supposed to post the source of the question).

By the way, the correct answer must be choice D because it points to an alternative explanation for why they are hitting more home runs in larger stadiums (some explanation other than being excited by the crowd).

Choice B may have tempted some. But the argument is about being "excited" in front of large crowds, which is not necessarily the same as being encouraged by, or cheered on by, large crowds.
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by gmatmachoman » Thu Jan 14, 2010 3:00 am
@TestLuv,

Why not C??

I am really not able to get what D tries to putforth!!!
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by gmatmachoman » Thu Jan 14, 2010 3:10 am
@original poster!!


Poor Questions puts every one off!!!

Plz dont post just for the sake of Posting......
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by Testluv » Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:31 am
Poor Questions puts every one off!!!

Plz dont post just for the sake of Posting......
Hey Govardhan, maybe she didn't know it was a bad question! (...but she should have posted the source!)
@TestLuv,

Why not C??

I am really not able to get what D tries to putforth!!!
The argument can be looked at as another explain the phenomenon argument. The phenomenon is that they hit more home runs in larger stadiums. The author's explanation is that this has to do with them being excited by the large crowds. The author is assuming that there are no other explanations. Choice D suggests another explanation: they hit more home runs in larger stadiums because it is easier to hit home runs in larger stadiums (because they don't have to hit the ball as far). I suppose you have to have some knowledge of (and at least the concept of) that great North American sport called baseball. For this reason, I would argue that this question is also unfair for a test that's administered internationally....just another thing that makes me doubt the authenticity of this question. Choice C tells us that they hit only 2 home runs in the largest stadium (singular). This is only one stadium, so it doesn't much matter (just as in choice A it's only one player).
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by gmatmachoman » Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:38 pm
apologies for/to the Original Poster..
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by joyseychow » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:00 am
Testluv wrote:
Poor Questions puts every one off!!!

Plz dont post just for the sake of Posting......
Hey Govardhan, maybe she didn't know it was a bad question! (...but she should have posted the source!)
@TestLuv,

Why not C??

I am really not able to get what D tries to putforth!!!
The argument can be looked at as another explain the phenomenon argument. The phenomenon is that they hit more home runs in larger stadiums. The author's explanation is that this has to do with them being excited by the large crowds. The author is assuming that there are no other explanations. Choice D suggests another explanation: they hit more home runs in larger stadiums because it is easier to hit home runs in larger stadiums (because they don't have to hit the ball as far). I suppose you have to have some knowledge of (and at least the concept of) that great North American sport called baseball. For this reason, I would argue that this question is also unfair for a test that's administered internationally....just another thing that makes me doubt the authenticity of this question. Choice C tells us that they hit only 2 home runs in the largest stadium (singular). This is only one stadium, so it doesn't much matter (just as in choice A it's only one player).
Thanks testuv!! I didn't know the ques was that bad. Anyways it's from Manhattan CAT.
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by adi_800 » Mon Aug 23, 2010 4:12 am
Very poor question...
I simply did not consider option D...
its something like... Tendlya is batting and you put a wall in front of him...n dat wall is boundary...if you hit the ball directly to the wall..its six..

what kinda logic is this??
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by reply2spg » Mon Aug 23, 2010 5:14 am
Ravi and Adi,

I don't understand why this is poor question, please explain.

It is very clear question. I will try to give my reasoning for this question as follows.
joyseychow wrote:A certain baseball team has just completed its season. In stadiums that seat 20,000 or fewer people, the team averaged 1 home run per game; in stadiums that seat between 20,000 and 40,000 people, the team averaged 2 home runs per game; and, in stadiums that seat 40,000 or more people, the team averaged 3 home runs per game. Obviously, the excitement of playing in front of large crowds motivated the team to hit more home runs.

Assuming that all stadiums during the season were filled to capacity, which of the following, if true, most undermines the argument above?

A) The team's leading home run hitter hit more home runs in mid-sized stadiums than in large stadiums. - This is out of scope. this option talks only about the star hitter of the team. However, conclusion talks about the entire team.

B) The fans in the larger stadiums often cheered against the team. - Don't care whom the fans are cheering

C) The team averaged only 2 home runs per game when playing in the league's largest stadium. - This option can be considerable. However, our scope is crowd and not the size of the stadium. Therefore, I eliminated this option.

D) In order to create seating for the additional fans, the outfield walls in the larger stadiums were constructed closer to home base. - This is correct. This clearly tells us that larger ground has been made smaller in order to incorporate more and more people. If that is the case then home run line comes forward and hitter can hit home run easily. So it has nothing to do whether team is getting motivated.

E) The team's announcer cited crowd noise as a major motivator for the team. - This is out of scope

What's wrong with A?
Hope this helps!!!!
Sudhanshu
(have lot of things to learn from all of you)
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