no clue

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armaan700+: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 75; Joined: Sun Jun 14, 2009 1:41 amFollowed by: 1 member; Location: india; Thanked: 2 times

by armaan700+ » Wed Feb 03, 2010 8:44 am

Numismatist: In medieval Spain, most gold coins were minted from gold mined in West Africa, in the area that is now Senegal. The gold mined in this region was the purest known. Its gold content of 92 percent allowed coins to be minted without refining the gold, and indeed coins minted from this source of gold can be recognized because they have that gold content. The mints could refine gold and produced other kinds of coins that had much purer gold content, but the Senegalese gold was never refined.
13. Which one of the following inferences about gold coins minted in medieval Spain is most strongly supported by the information the numismatist gives?
(A) Coins minted from Senegalese gold all contained the same weight, as well as the same proportion of gold.
(B) The source of some refined gold from which coins were minted was unrefined gold with a gold content of less than 92 percent.
(C) Two coins could have the same monetary value even though they differed from each other in the percentage of gold they contained.
(D) No gold coins were minted that had a gold content of less than 92 percent.
(E) The only unrefined gold from which coins could be minted was Senegalese gold.

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Wed Feb 03, 2010 8:44 am

komal: Legendary Member; Posts: 777; Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:02 amFollowed by: 47 members; Location: Mumbai, India; Thanked: 117 times

by komal » Wed Feb 03, 2010 8:45 am

armaan700+ wrote:Numismatist: In medieval Spain, most gold coins were minted from gold mined in West Africa, in the area that is now Senegal. The gold mined in this region was the purest known. Its gold content of 92 percent allowed coins to be minted without refining the gold, and indeed coins minted from this source of gold can be recognized because they have that gold content. The mints could refine gold and produced other kinds of coins that had much purer gold content, but the Senegalese gold was never refined.
13. Which one of the following inferences about gold coins minted in medieval Spain is most strongly supported by the information the numismatist gives?
(A) Coins minted from Senegalese gold all contained the same weight, as well as the same proportion of gold.
(B) The source of some refined gold from which coins were minted was unrefined gold with a gold content of less than 92 percent.
(C) Two coins could have the same monetary value even though they differed from each other in the percentage of gold they contained.
(D) No gold coins were minted that had a gold content of less than 92 percent.
(E) The only unrefined gold from which coins could be minted was Senegalese gold.

my pick is (c)

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DeepakR: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 158; Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2008 8:47 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 23 times; GMAT Score:660

by DeepakR » Wed Feb 03, 2010 8:59 am

When answering inference question firstly, we need to pick the answer choice that can be framed from the information given in the stimulus. Secondly avoid extreme words.

I would go with OA) C.

(A) Coins minted from Senegalese gold all contained the same weight, as well as the same proportion of gold.
- No information about weight is mentioned anywhere so ignore this choice.

(B) The source of some refined gold from which coins were minted was unrefined gold with a gold content of less than 92 percent.
- Only info about refining gold is given with 92% gold content.

(C) Two coins could have the same monetary value even though they differed from each other in the percentage of gold they contained.
- Since the mint could refine gold and produce other kinds of coins that had much purer gold content we can infer this probably.

(D) No gold coins were minted that had a gold content of less than 92 percent.
- Too strong

(E) The only unrefined gold from which coins could be minted was Senegalese gold.
-- Too extreme and strong

-Deepak

Osirus@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1578; Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 8:02 amFollowed by: 34 members; Thanked: 128 times; GMAT Score:760

by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:01 am

I would choose B

A- It never mentions weight

B- My pick

C- The stimilus never discusses the value of the coinage

D- We don't know what the content of the refined gold was. It never discusses the standard to which refined gold coins were held to

E- We know that no other gold was purer than Senegalese gold, but we don't know if any other gold could match their gold's purity.

Choose B

ajith: Legendary Member; Posts: 1275; Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:13 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Arabian Sea; Thanked: 125 times

by ajith » Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:14 am

armaan700+ wrote:Numismatist: In medieval Spain, most gold coins were minted from gold mined in West Africa, in the area that is now Senegal. The gold mined in this region was the purest known. Its gold content of 92 percent allowed coins to be minted without refining the gold, and indeed coins minted from this source of gold can be recognized because they have that gold content. The mints could refine gold and produced other kinds of coins that had much purer gold content, but the Senegalese gold was never refined.
13. Which one of the following inferences about gold coins minted in medieval Spain is most strongly supported by the information the numismatist gives?
(A) Coins minted from Senegalese gold all contained the same weight, as well as the same proportion of gold.
(B) The source of some refined gold from which coins were minted was unrefined gold with a gold content of less than 92 percent.
(C) Two coins could have the same monetary value even though they differed from each other in the percentage of gold they contained.
(D) No gold coins were minted that had a gold content of less than 92 percent.
(E) The only unrefined gold from which coins could be minted was Senegalese gold.

B for me

A - No constraint on weight is mentioned in the passage
C - Not Mentioned, neither can be inferred
D - Not mentioned
E - Cannot be inferred from data given

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okigbo: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 177; Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2009 9:39 pm; Thanked: 6 times

by okigbo » Wed Feb 03, 2010 10:41 am

I'm stuck between B and C?

Experts: what is the trap/key to unlocking the right answer between these two?? Thanks.

vinny_r78: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 13; Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:25 am; Thanked: 1 times

by vinny_r78 » Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:32 pm

I would go with B. What is the OA?

vinny_r78: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 13; Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:25 am; Thanked: 1 times

by vinny_r78 » Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:34 pm

C is wrong because it talks about "Monetary value". The original question does not mention anything about "Monetary Value".

pkw209: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 266; Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:46 pm; Thanked: 8 times; GMAT Score:690

by pkw209 » Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:48 pm

I would go B.

I thought C for a second because the passage says "indeed coins minted from this source of gold can be recognized because they have that gold content." However, coins minted from this source of gold implies that Senegal gold can be recognized. In other words, the author isn't comparing two different types of coins but rather two of the same. therefore, we know nothing about the monetary values of two similar but different coins.

Also, monetary value is never discussed in the passage as someone mentioned.

Official answer?

vscid: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 212; Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 4:19 pm; Thanked: 5 times

by vscid » Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:59 pm

OA is B.

The GMAT is indeed adaptable. Whenever I answer RC, it proficiently 'adapts' itself to mark my 'right' answer 'wrong'.

dmitriyaleyev: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 38; Joined: Thu May 21, 2009 5:53 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by dmitriyaleyev » Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:32 pm

Easy question if u read carefully.
B

The gold was the PUREST known. Its content was 92. Other coins could be minted but they have to be refined. Thus their original content must have been less than 92 because 92 is the max.

gauravgundal: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 199; Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:15 am; Location: India; Thanked: 13 times

by gauravgundal » Fri Feb 12, 2010 5:16 am

From other source:

B or D.
Most coins were minted from gold in Sengal. So some coins weren't.

If from Sengal, then gold content is 92% and was the purest known. nothing higher than 92%.

If gold content is 92%, coins could be minted w/o refining. Gold can be refined to jack up the gold %, but stimulus says that the Senegalese Gold was never refined. It is feasible that gold w/ < 92% was used in the refining process to create a "purer gold content" coin.

I would go w/ B. - all it says is that the source of some refined gold from which coins were minted was unrefined gold with a gold content of less than 92 percent.

It's less restrictive than D and fits all of the restrictions in the argument.

chaya009: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 59; Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2010 10:11 pm; Location: United States; Thanked: 4 times

by chaya009 » Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:00 am

Thanks dmitriyaleyev, good explanation.

joseph32: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 303; Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 10:23 am

by joseph32 » Sun May 15, 2016 11:28 pm

I am leaning more towards B, but I'm not sure about it.

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