Comedians... Tough one...

BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

This topic has expert replies

Post new topic Post Reply

Previous Topic Next Topic

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

Comedians... Tough one...

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

Quote

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...

Quote

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"

Quote

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.