gasoline

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gasoline

by jainrahul1985 » Tue Jul 05, 2011 9:03 am
Last August the XT chain of gasoline stations had a temporary sales promotion in effect. In the promotion, any customer who made a purchase of ten or more gallons of gasoline was entitled to a free car wash. For the month of August, XT experienced a ten percent increase in gasoline sales as compared to sales in August the previous year, so evidently the promotion was successful as a means of boosting sales.
In evaluating the argument, it would be most helpful to answer which of the following?
A. In the areas in which XT's gasoline stations operate, how did total combined gasoline sales for all gasoline stations last August compare with sales for the previous August?
B. Was the money that XT earned from the increase in gasoline sales enough to offset the cost of providing free car washes during the promotion?
C. Were there any customers who bought ten or more gallons at an XT gasoline station during the promotion who would have or more gallons at an XT gasoline in lower quantities, but more frequently, if the promotion had not been in effect?
D. Did XT or any of its gasoline stations have to pay other businesses to provide the car washes that customers were offered in the promotion?
E. Are XT's gasoline sales in August usually significantly higher than one twelfth of XT's annual gasoline sales?

Confused b/w A and C . Experts please help

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by vikram4689 » Tue Jul 05, 2011 9:45 am
Could not understand what is written in C, can you please check if you copied it correctly.

I think B is a contender, If the prices cannot be made out of the increase in sales then this promotion offer is NOT a SUCCESSFUL means of INCREASING SALES.
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by mundasingh123 » Tue Jul 05, 2011 9:46 am
jainrahul1985 wrote:Last August the XT chain of gasoline stations had a temporary sales promotion in effect. In the promotion, any customer who made a purchase of ten or more gallons of gasoline was entitled to a free car wash. For the month of August, XT experienced a ten percent increase in gasoline sales as compared to sales in August the previous year, so evidently the promotion was successful as a means of boosting sales.
In evaluating the argument, it would be most helpful to answer which of the following?
A. In the areas in which XT's gasoline stations operate, how did total combined gasoline sales for all gasoline stations last August compare with sales for the previous August?
B. Was the money that XT earned from the increase in gasoline sales enough to offset the cost of providing free car washes during the promotion?
C. Were there any customers who bought ten or more gallons at an XT gasoline station during the promotion who would have or more gallons at an XT gasoline in lower quantities, but more frequently, if the promotion had not been in effect?
D. Did XT or any of its gasoline stations have to pay other businesses to provide the car washes that customers were offered in the promotion?
E. Are XT's gasoline sales in August usually significantly higher than one twelfth of XT's annual gasoline sales?

Confused b/w A and C . Experts please help
The argument is concerned with a boost in sales.In other words , did the sales in revenues increase or not . A is the only option that compares the sales in revenues for this year with that of the previous year
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by sanabk » Tue Jul 05, 2011 3:55 pm
Scene1: Gas Station 2010 2011
XT 50 80
Other 100 200

or

Scene1: Gas Station 2010 2011
XT 50 280
Other 100 200

Combined sales evaluation can help in judging whether the promotion was a means of boosting the sales.

A

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by nguy » Tue Jul 05, 2011 8:16 pm
Time: 1:38
IMO A

Main focus is on "increasing the sale." Also, it's given that the total sale for month of August has indeed increased. We got to focus on this and everything else is either OOS or a distractor.

B is a very good distracter. The point is "increase in sale" and not "profit." I did this mistake in https://www.beatthegmat.com/vitacorp-t48265.html, but corrected this time.

C: we are talking about total sale of the month which indeed increased. Even if we consider that some of the customers have changed their pattern so what?

D: again a distracter.

E: OOS

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by vikram4689 » Tue Jul 05, 2011 8:33 pm
Can anyone help me in understanding C
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by M09 » Wed Jul 06, 2011 7:47 pm
jainrahul1985 wrote:Last August the XT chain of gasoline stations had a temporary sales promotion in effect. In the promotion, any customer who made a purchase of ten or more gallons of gasoline was entitled to a free car wash. For the month of August, XT experienced a ten percent increase in gasoline sales as compared to sales in August the previous year, so evidently the promotion was successful as a means of boosting sales.
In evaluating the argument, it would be most helpful to answer which of the following?
A. In the areas in which XT's gasoline stations operate, how did total combined gasoline sales for all gasoline stations last August compare with sales for the previous August?
B. Was the money that XT earned from the increase in gasoline sales enough to offset the cost of providing free car washes during the promotion?
C. Were there any customers who bought ten or more gallons at an XT gasoline station during the promotion who would have or more gallons at an XT gasoline in lower quantities, but more frequently, if the promotion had not been in effect?
D. Did XT or any of its gasoline stations have to pay other businesses to provide the car washes that customers were offered in the promotion?
E. Are XT's gasoline sales in August usually significantly higher than one twelfth of XT's annual gasoline sales?

Confused b/w A and C . Experts please help
I found option C a bit tough to understand.
I was between [spoiler]A & C[/spoiler]
I think in these type of Q the correct option should strengthen and weaken the conclusion depending upon yes or no
A. In the areas in which XT's gasoline stations operate, how did total combined gasoline sales for all gasoline stations last August compare with sales for the previous August?
Let's say we have two gas station AB and XT having sales 130 gallons and 100 gallons respec. Last Aug.
total sales 230 gallons.
This year 130 + 110 = 240 total sales increased of all gasoline states so what?
other scenario
120 + 110 = 220 total sales decreased - this doesn't mean anything to the conclusion
OA please?

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by lunarpower » Fri Jul 15, 2011 2:15 am
received a pm.

the argument states that gasoline sales were higher when the promotion was in effect, and then concludes that the promotion must have brought about this increase in sales.

one way to show that this is not true -- i.e., that the increase in sales was due to something other than the promotion -- would be to show that sales increased at other companies' gas stations as well during the same period.

this is what choice (a) is trying to investigate -- it is inquiring into the total sales for all gasoline stations (i.e., not just XT's stations) in those areas.
the idea behind this inquiry is that, if the other companies' stations also experienced a similar rise in sales, then the rise in sales is actually due to some general trend in the area, rather than to the promotion.
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by shobhitk » Sun Jul 13, 2014 4:22 am
Hi Ron,

Your explanation doesn't quite make sense to me. You say if each of the competitor has witnessed growth then there is some movement in the market itself. But the choice A states that combined sales increase of all stations nearby might have/might not have increased.

Now, analyze this. If we have 4 competitors, $10 sales in each in 2013. Come 2014, XT increased to $15, one other increased to $20 but other two reduced to $2 and $3, making the total as $41, greater than $40 in 2013.

The combined increase in revenue would not help us understand growth in XT sales, probably very little support, if any.

Hence, I chose C where if because of promotion a lot of people filled their tanks in bulk, it might have led to increase in sales for that particular month.

Please help me understand this problem.

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by phanikpk » Sun Jul 13, 2014 5:02 am
shobhitk wrote:Hi Ron,

Your explanation doesn't quite make sense to me. You say if each of the competitor has witnessed growth then there is some movement in the market itself. But the choice A states that combined sales increase of all stations nearby might have/might not have increased.

Now, analyze this. If we have 4 competitors, $10 sales in each in 2013. Come 2014, XT increased to $15, one other increased to $20 but other two reduced to $2 and $3, making the total as $41, greater than $40 in 2013.

The combined increase in revenue would not help us understand growth in XT sales, probably very little support, if any.

Hence, I chose C where if because of promotion a lot of people filled their tanks in bulk, it might have led to increase in sales for that particular month.

Please help me understand this problem.
Whatever your thought process is in evaluation, it should form an underlying assumption such that by the answer either it can be a strengthen or it can weaken.

Option C is just stating about number of people who bought the gasoline. The argument needs how we can say that the promotion was successful in boosting sales. Simple,
compare the total sales of this august which has promotion with previous august which has no promotion across all the stores of XT.

Hope this helps.

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by lunarpower » Mon Jul 14, 2014 2:50 pm
shobhitk wrote:Now, analyze this. If we have 4 competitors, $10 sales in each in 2013. Come 2014, XT increased to $15, one other increased to $20 but other two reduced to $2 and $3, making the total as $41, greater than $40 in 2013.
Right here you're doing something you should NEVER do--focusing on an extreme (and very bizarre/counterintuitive) mathematical case, rather than thinking about the most likely or most ordinary interpretation of a statistic.

Remember--This is not the quant section. It's the verbal section. The purpose isn't to test how well you can sling numerical values around; it's to test whether you understand what they are most likely to mean.

In CR:
"¢Â You should think only about the most likely interpretation of statistics.
"¢Â Weird/extreme statistical cases are NEVER relevant.
"¢Â If you're plugging in actual numbers, you're overthinking the issue.


What you're supposed to get out of choice A is, "People are buying more gas in general."
That's it.
You should not continue to think about weird extreme cases. Thinking past "People are buying more gas in general", AT ALL, is over-thinking here.

If people are buying more gas in general, then that change--as opposed to the promotion--could well be responsible for the observed changes.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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by lunarpower » Mon Jul 14, 2014 2:56 pm
Choice C doesn't really do anything, because "lower quantities" and "more frequently" are offsetting ideas. In terms of their effect on total sales dollars, they cancel each out.
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by iongmat » Tue Jul 22, 2014 9:02 am
lunarpower wrote:Choice C doesn't really do anything, because "lower quantities" and "more frequently" are offsetting ideas. In terms of their effect on total sales dollars, they cancel each out.
Hello Ron, what is confusing about choice C is the words: "more gallons" at an XT gasoline in lower quantities, but more frequently.

What do we interpret of "more gallons"?

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by spetznaz » Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:52 pm
I am little confused about option C.

C) Were there any customers who bought ten or more gallons at an XT gasoline station during the promotion who would have or more gallons at an XT gasoline in lower quantities, but more frequently, if the promotion had not been in effect?

The option says that customers bought 10 or more gallons at an XT station. I agree that it does not matter whether it was bought in in bulk or in lots of small amount, but the fact is, more gallons were bought because of promotion. Please clarify !

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by lunarpower » Thu Jul 24, 2014 8:56 am
iongmat wrote:
lunarpower wrote:Choice C doesn't really do anything, because "lower quantities" and "more frequently" are offsetting ideas. In terms of their effect on total sales dollars, they cancel each out.
Hello Ron, what is confusing about choice C is the words: "more gallons" at an XT gasoline in lower quantities, but more frequently.

What do we interpret of "more gallons"?
"10 or more gallons" means "x gallons, where x ≥ 10".
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