Critical Reasoning

Which of the following logical inferences can be made given the situation below?

Most businesses in India use computer technology. A leading computer manufacturer with 1 million customers estimates that the only way it can be successful is if it increases its customer base to include one half of all businesses in India that currently use computer technology.

* (A)
The computer manufacturer must sell computers to at least one quarter of all Indian businesses to be successful.
* (B)
There are over 10 million businesses in India that do not use computer technology.
* (C)
No more than three quarters of businesses in India currently use computer technology.
* (D)
There are at least 8 million businesses in India overall.
* (E)
There are at least 8 million businesses in India that use computer technology.



OA A

Couldn't find an appropriate inference from options.
And about OA, isn't it incorrect?

Can you please explain why OA is A

This has been already discussed in this forum.

Shall post the link once I find it.

Hi,
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think there is something missing in question.

Please do that Bublii

itsmebharat wrote:Which of the following logical inferences can be made given the situation below?

Most businesses in India use computer technology. A leading computer manufacturer with 1 million customers estimates that the only way it can be successful is if it increases its customer base to include one half of all businesses in India that currently use computer technology.

* (A)
The computer manufacturer must sell computers to at least one quarter of all Indian businesses to be successful.
* (B)
There are over 10 million businesses in India that do not use computer technology.
* (C)
No more than three quarters of businesses in India currently use computer technology.
* (D)
There are at least 8 million businesses in India overall.
* (E)
There are at least 8 million businesses in India that use computer technology.



OA A

IMO only A makes sense.

Explanation:
Premise:
Most businesses in India use computer technology.
IMO: Most mean more than half.
Conclusion:
The only way it can be successful is if it increases its customer base to include one half of all businesses in India that currently use computer technology.

Inference: More than half businesses use computer technology in India. To get success, Company should acquire half of the customers which use computer technology in their business.
It comes to around more than one quarter of all the business.
So A make sense.
All other options talk about some specific number like 8 million, which we cannot predict on the basis of the information given in the paragraph.

exactly the same explanation appears there.

The key to crack the question is 'Most means more than half'.

I remember it was MundaSingh who explained this question. Anyways, since we have the explanation now lets learn from it.

Most means more than half. will remember it. thanks bublii

well doesn't most means almost 1 or near to one.
even more than 3/4 can mean most..

cans wrote:well doesn't most means almost 1 or near to one.
even more than 3/4 can mean most..

True.. The answer choice points out it targets .."at least one quarter"

Good Explanation

That was a really good one!!!
A seemed the only logical conclusion...

If we go with 'most means more than half' A sounds right, but is'nt 'most' extreme as per Gmat.

Nice explanation by Calvin. At the time of solving the ques. it did not click to me that most means more than half though in isolation i know it. however, ques can be solved with it :

B,D,E - mention specific numbers which cannot be derived and hence are OUT. In inference ques you cannot add anything from OUTSIDE the argument.

C - OUT because it cannot be derived from Argument.

Hence A, though i agree doing all calculations is correct way but sometimes elimination works .
Thanks

cans wrote:well doesn't most means almost 1 or near to one.
even more than 3/4 can mean most..

Remember it this way. Its simple and very helpful.

All = 100
Most = 51 to 100 ("definitely more than 50 but possibly all" i.e. A majority)
Some = 1 to 100 ("at least one, possibly all")
None = 0

Also remember the logic chain (read it from top to bottom)

All
.
.
Most
.
.
Some

When you see "All" in an argument, you can safely infer "Most" and "Some" in the answer choices. For ex. the argument states "All guys rock", answer choices "Most guys rock" or "Some guys rock" are definitely true.

Same goes for "Most". you can infer "Some". For ex. the argument states "Most guys rock", answer choices "Some guys rock" is definitely true. However, "All guys rock" MAY be true because Most is 51-100 (i.e. definitely more than 50 but possibly all).

Ditto for "Some". you can infer nothing from a some statement because in the logic chain there is nothing below some. For ex. the argument states "Some guys rock", you can only infer "Some guys rock" or "1 guy rocks". However, answer choices "Most guys rock" and "All guys rock" MAY be true. But we can state this because Some is 1-100 (i.e. definitely 1 possibly all)

Now coming back to the Q.

Most businesses in India use computer technology. A leading computer manufacturer with 1 million customers estimates that the only way it can be successful is if it increases its customer base to include one half of all businesses in India that currently use computer technology.

*

51-100 business in India use computer technology.
If we have (1/2)(51-100) customer base --> successful.
In other words, If we have (1/2)(0.51-1) customer base --> successful.

Since we know that Most definitely means more than (50%), we can infer:
If we have (1/4) customer base --> successful.

(A)
The computer manufacturer must sell computers to at least one quarter of all Indian businesses to be successful.

Anything above 1/4 is a bonus so at least 1/4

You can go through pages 7 onwards of the Powerscore LSAT bible for more information.

HTH