Critical Reasoning

The Fields Medal, considered the most prestigious prize in the field of mathematics, is, for many critics and observers of mathematical innovation, the equivalent of a "Nobel Prize for Mathematics," a prize which does not exist. However, the Fields Medal, given to mathematicians under the age of 40, is awarded one-fourth as often as the Nobel Prize and is based on a person's entire body of work, while the Nobel Prize is based on a single notable achievement. Despite this, Nobel Prize winners, who have a median age of 51 in physics and 63 in literature at the time of receipt, earn a monetary prize one thousand times greater than the one earned by Fields Medals recipients.

Which of the following can be logically inferred from the statements above?

(A)The Fields Medal, although less remunerative than the Nobel Prize, is equally prestigious.

(B)No mathematician has ever won a Nobel Prize.

(C)The demographic requirements for the Fields Medal differ from those of the Nobel Prize.

(D)Mathematicians over the age of 40 are ineligible for any prestigious awards in their field.

(E)A prize that is awarded four times less often is likely to be considered more prestigious.

IMO C

I would say (C).

(A) the stimulus says that the fields medal is the most prestigious in the field of mathematics and considered an equivalent to the nobel prize, but nowhere does it compare the prestigiousness of the two prizes together. INCORRECT

(B) it says that there is no nobel prize for mathematics, but nowhere does it imply that a mathematician has not won the nobel prize (perhaps for physics?) INCORRECT

(D) it mentions that the fields medal is the most prestigious in the field of mathematics, but not the only. INCORRECT

(E) it does indicate that the fields medal is prestigious and awarded 4 times less often than the nobel prize, but nothing is mentioned about this being the reason for prestige (nobel prize may be more prestigious, see A) INCORRECT

A,B,C are good contenders

A - Famous only for math dudes, so it is out.

Can I have OE for B and C

When you see that you have an inference question you should celebrate!

Many test-takers like to use Process of Elimination on critical reasoning and in no place does this work out better than Inference questions...

I find that process of elimination has a straight-forward path on the GMAT. WE are getting rid of choices that "could be false."

As I mentioned before the major reason that answers could be false is that they are "beyond the scope of the stimulus." This is clear to most everyone.

Another great way to eliminate answer choices is when they make predictions. By example, at this point with the "lock-out" ongoing, it is not clear that there will be an American professional (NFL) football season. So it is clearly a "prediction" to say that the NFL will begin in September this year. But realize that this is a prediction every year. It is not certain that football will be played until it has been. This is because future-oriented things usually are not "must be true."

ldoolitt blazed through this question - for each of the choices ldoolitt has explained why the answer choice is beyond the scope of the stimulus. So watch for beyond the scope.

We could also have had something like "in the future the Fields Medal winner will receive more prize money." And such a choice would be eliminated quickly as a prediction.

C is also a great choice because it is pretty general and obviously within the scope. Then you see that the median age of certain Nobel winners is above the maximum age of the Fields Medal. So the demographics must be different!

Thanks David for your guidance and suggesting how to approach inference questions. Among all the topics in CR, i mostly struggle in Draw the conclusion/inference type questions.

Please answer my question,
In this question, i narrowed down to B and C and then get confused and the reason is both the answer choices looks(good) though still insufficient.

Op B for the same reason @ldoolitt has explained.

Op C--> i thought that demographic requirement contains many other things(i guess not only age)...but only on the basis of age an inference has been made that demographic requirement are different in both the prizes....

The OA is C, now please suggest me what i thought about Op C is wrong because i'm wrong about demographic data that it contains other things also OR i'm thinking beyond the scope of the argument?????

+1 for C.
I thought about the same reasoning for each option while eliminating as used by ldoolitt.

atulmangal -

Answer Choice C -- you mention that demographics means more than just age. That is certainly true. However, we only need one thing different for sure in order to have different requirements. The Fields medal requires that you be less than 40 years old. The Nobel winners are clearly older than this - so less than 40 is not a "requirement" for the Nobel. So different demographic requirements no need for everything to be different. I mean once I am over 40 I can no longer win the Fields, but I am still in line for that Nobel prize in Critical Reasoning!!

I was also between B & C .. Thanks David for clarifying this.

Thanks for your post David, it really helped.

Can you please clear one more doubt regarding Op B.

The argument states that Nobel prize can't be given for the work in the field of Mathematics.

Now Op B "No mathematician has ever won a Nobel Prize."

Do we drop this answer choice because it may be possible that some Mathematician may have worked in the field of physics or chemistry etc and got the Nobel prize??? Is this is the reason to drop Op B or there is some other reason???

Regards

That is exactly the reason. They are trying to deceive you.

You are correct that it is not the same thing to say that someone wins "in mathematics" and as you say a mathematician may win for physics or chemistry or the Nobel Peace Prize for that matter.

Do you see where they try to plant the seeds of an assumption? But this is something that certainly could be false so it can be eliminated.

Agree with David; its a trap.

This is a beautifully typical question not only in the individual answer choices themselves but in the order they are presented. Note that they put a shell game answer (something CLOSE to a paraphrase of the text but ever so slightly different) right before the real answer. They hope you get to that answer, read it quickly and then mark (B) when, if you went to the next answer (C) you would have multiple contenders and read the stimulus and answer more closely.

Thanks a lot @David and @ldoolitt

for such a conceptual and healthy discussion..

Thanks again

Atul