Critical Reasoning

The U.S. census is not perfect: thousands of Americans probably go uncounted. However, the basic statistical portrait of the nation painted by the census is accurate. Certainly some of the poor go uncounted, particularly the homeless; but some of the rich go uncounted as well, because they are often abroad or traveling between one residence and another.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument above depends?



(A) Both the rich and the poor have personal and economic reasons to avoid being counted by the census.
(B) All Americans may reasonably be classified as either poor or rich.
(C) The percentage of poor Americans uncounted by the census is close to the percentage of rich Americans uncounted.
(D) The number of homeless Americans is approximately equal to the number of rich Americans.
(E) The primary purpose of the census is to analyze the economic status of the American population

According to me B. What is the OA?

The U.S. census is not perfect some of the poor go uncountedsome of the rich go uncounted as well

From the above I feel C

lalitdowlani wrote:The U.S. census is not perfect: thousands of Americans probably go uncounted. However, the basic statistical portrait of the nation painted by the census is accurate. Certainly some of the poor go uncounted, particularly the homeless; but some of the rich go uncounted as well, because they are often abroad or traveling between one residence and another.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument above depends?



(A) Both the rich and the poor have personal and economic reasons to avoid being counted by the census.
(B) All Americans may reasonably be classified as either poor or rich.
(C) The percentage of poor Americans uncounted by the census is close to the percentage of rich Americans uncounted.
(D) The number of homeless Americans is approximately equal to the number of rich Americans.
(E) The primary purpose of the census is to analyze the economic status of the American population

This is a tricky one. C and D are very similar, and if you were to just read through the answers quickly you might get it wrong.

First, identify the conclusion, which I put in bold above. Next, find out which of the answer choices must be true in order for the bold statement to be true.

A has nothing to do with the bold statement.

B [spoiler]the passage makes no mention of poor or rich as being the only categories, so we can't make an extreme claim as this[/spoiler]

C [spoiler]IMO this is the best answer. if you're undercounting 20% of rich people in the country, but at the same time are undercounting 20% of the poor people, then your overall balance/average will not be affected.[/spoiler]

D [spoiler]the passage talks about percentages and relative ratios, not absolute numbers, so it would be incorrect to assume that the # of homeless = # of rich[/spoiler]

E [spoiler]the passage doesn't talk about the purpose of the census[/spoiler]

however, i too am torn between 2 answers so i'd be interested to know what the OA is

IMO, answer is B. Its assuming that there are only 2 categories for a certain element to the census. If there are 3, say we add a middle class, and they are fully reported (since they aren't mentioned), then the representation is incorrect.

The argument is based on the premise that there are two balanced and offsetting errors, but add a 3rd or 4th and the argument doesn't hold.

IMO B

IMO B

Option B is not in context as it talks of the classifications possible whereas the context is missing out on number of people poor and rich.

Options A and E are clearly losers.

Options C and D stand as the ones possible. Here, Option D doesn't help as an assumption for the argument because the number of poor and rich in the country is not what is talked about. It's about the impact of uncounted poor and rich on the census. Hence Option C stands a winner for me.

Thanks to all

IMO C shud be the ans
IS the OA declared for this

It should be D

Please post the OA for this one

ssgmatter wrote:It should be D

Please post the OA for this one

the stimulus says that the basic statistical portrait of the nation painted by the census is accurate
and reason cited is some of the poor go uncounted, but some of the rich go uncounted as well.
hence its assuming that bth the catogry are equal
D says specifically about Homeless people
hence IMO it can not be correct

IMO C.

A B and E are out of scope.
D is talking about only homeless people which is a part of poor, whereas we are concerned about both rich and poor class.
So D is out and C wins

IMO - C

% vs Numbers .. ( D refers to number )