Machu Picchu CR

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aj5105: Legendary Member; Posts: 1169; Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 2:34 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 25 times

by aj5105 » Sat Jan 17, 2009 1:03 am

Driving the steep road to the mountaintop Inca ruins of Machu Picchu is potentially dangerous and hiking there is difficult. Now the Peruvian government is installing a cable car that will make access much easier, and hence result in a large increase in tourism. However, since the presence of large numbers of tourists tends to accelerate the deterioration of a site, installation of the cable car is certain to result in harm to the ruins.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the argument?

A. The daily number of tourists that are expected to take the cable car to Machu Piccu is smaller than the original resident population of Incas.
B. The construction of the cable car terminal at Machu Picchu will require the use of potentially damaging heavy machinery at the site.
C. Machu Picchu is already one of the most popular tourist sites in Peru.
D. Natural weathering will continue to be a more significant cause of the deterioration of Machu Picchu than tourist traffic.
E. The cable car will replace the tour buses whose large wheels and corrosive exhaust at present do significant damage to the site.

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Sat Jan 17, 2009 1:03 am

gg1: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 25; Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:19 am; Thanked: 1 times

by gg1 » Sat Jan 17, 2009 4:57 am

E shud be the answer.

Argument : More tourist , more damage.

Cable car will decrease the damage done by the tourist and hence cable car will not result in to more damage.

Bidisha800: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 344; Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 11:00 amFollowed by: 1 member; Location: USA; Thanked: 6 times

by Bidisha800 » Sat Jan 17, 2009 11:48 am

(E)

Drill baby drill !

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manoj0609: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 24; Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2009 2:53 am; Thanked: 2 times

by manoj0609 » Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:09 pm

Why A cannot be the ans?
Since it says that number of tourist perday is not going to be more than local residents,which essentially means that the condtion of that place remains the same.

Can somebody explain this pls ?

Rashmi1804: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 139; Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:04 am; Thanked: 3 times; GMAT Score:620

by Rashmi1804 » Thu Apr 02, 2009 8:18 am

Option A says "The daily number of tourists that are expected to take the cable car to Machu Piccu is smaller than the original resident population of Incas"

Here...camparison between... TOURISTS and picchu RESIDENTS is made.
--- THIS IS COMPETELY IRRELEVANT.
Because even if the new number of tourists is smaller than the number of residents, it could be greater than current number of tourists...and hence lead to damage of the touristplace.
Hence option A is wrong.

Initially i picked D....but now i am conviced that it is wrong because
Even though the natural weathering is more significant than Cable cars in damaging the tourist place, the usage of cable cars would still exacerbate the effect on the tourist

Option E stronger...
damage due to increased number of tourists would only offset the damage due to current busses and etc...

So no significant increase in the damage would happen due to cable cars...

phewww!!

delhiboy1979: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 239; Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:50 am

by delhiboy1979 » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:42 pm

I dont know, I am still confused between d and e. I am strongly inclining towards D though.

dendude: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 160; Joined: Fri May 30, 2008 7:10 pm; Thanked: 10 times; GMAT Score:600

by dendude » Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:02 am

The argument made is - installation of cable cars in MP will be harmful to the ruins
We are looking for an option here that weakens this conclusion

A. The daily number of tourists that are expected to take the cable car to Machu Piccu is smaller than the original resident population of Incas. - comparison between tourists and residents. This is out of scope
B. The construction of the cable car terminal at Machu Picchu will require the use of potentially damaging heavy machinery at the site. - this actually strengthens the argument
C. Machu Picchu is already one of the most popular tourist sites in Peru. - no effect on the argument
D. Natural weathering will continue to be a more significant cause of the deterioration of Machu Picchu than tourist traffic. - this does not add or subtract anything from the argument. Natural Weathering will continue to be the significant cause regardless of whether the cable cars are installed or not
E. The cable car will replace the tour buses whose large wheels and corrosive exhaust at present do significant damage to the site. - this correctly points out that the cable cars would be replacing another mode of transportation that was causing a significant amount of damage to the site. Hence with the use of cable cars there would be improvement in the site (with reduced damage)

kris_hansy: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 27; Joined: Sat Feb 28, 2009 3:09 pm

by kris_hansy » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:05 pm

I would go with C.

If it is already a famous tourist site, most of the people are already visiting the site, even if they have to take the risk or the pain. So, the cable car will only ease their pain, or reduce their difficulty. It cannot substantially increase the number of tourists. Hence, C.
The conclusion derives from the fact that higher number of tourists harm the site. Weaken that conclusion. Doesn't matter if the buses do the same. We don't know if they are the chief cause of harm! Maybe the gain from losing buses are negligible.

gmat740: MBA Student; Posts: 1194; Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:42 pmFollowed by: 17 members; Location: Paris, France; Thanked: 71 times; GMAT Score:710

by gmat740 » Sat Apr 04, 2009 1:28 am

Conclusion

installation of the cable car is certain to result in harm to the ruins

C.Machu Picchu is already one of the most popular tourist sites in Peru.

So what??
Are the tourist going to Harm the ruins or the cable cars??
Look what is mentioned in conclusion.

E. The cable car will replace the tour buses whose large wheels and corrosive exhaust at present do significant damage to the site.

@kris

Your assertion for C may be correct but we have to look what is the conclusion and work on that.

C mentions tourist which is not there in conclusion.

Hope this clarifies why C cannot be answer

vanessa.m: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 100; Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2014 3:58 am

by vanessa.m » Sun May 15, 2016 2:16 am

I am leaning more towards C

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