Two centuries ago, Tufe Peninsula became separated form the

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Two centuries ago, Tufe Peninsula became separated form the mainland, isolating on the newly formed Tufe Island a population of Turfil sunflowers. This population's descendants grow to be, on average, 40 centimeters shorter than Turfil sunflowers found on the mainland. Tufe Island is significantly drier than Tufe Peninsula was. So the current average height of Tufe's Turfil sunflowers is undoubtedly at least partially attributable to changes in Tufe's environmental conditions. Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. There are no types of vegetation on Tufe Island that are known to benefit from dry conditions.
B. There were about as many Turfil sunflowers on Tufe Peninsula two centuries ago as there are on Tufe Island today.
C. The mainland's environment has not changed in ways that have resulted in Turfil sunflowers on the mainland growing to be 40 centimeters taller than they did two centuries ago.
D. The soil on Tufe Island, unlike that on the mainland, lacks important nutrients that help Turfil sunflowers survive and grow tall in a dry environment.
E. The 40-centimeter height difference between the Turfil sunflowers on Tufe Island and those on the mainland is the only difference between the two populations.

[spoiler]OA: C vs D. Which one is better and why????[/spoiler]
Last edited by aspirant2011 on Sat May 14, 2011 7:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

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by HSPA » Sat May 14, 2011 5:07 am
I am with C
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by aspirant2011 » Sat May 14, 2011 7:26 am
HSPA, why is D wrong???????

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by HSPA » Sat May 14, 2011 7:33 pm
Option D is out of scope. Nuitrients are not part of discussion.

One more way:
Negate D:

Mainland and island have same nutrient content [after negating]
Does this help resolve this issue or does it weaken the conclusion?? NO
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by ajaarik » Sat May 14, 2011 8:55 pm
+1 C.

Reasons cited above.

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by aspirant2011 » Mon May 16, 2011 7:29 am
HSPA wrote:Option D is out of scope. Nuitrients are not part of discussion.

One more way:
Negate D:

Mainland and island have same nutrient content [after negating]
Does this help resolve this issue or does it weaken the conclusion?? NO
If we negate C then it becomes "The mainland's environment has changed in ways that have resulted in Turfil sunflowers on the mainland growing to be 40 centimeters taller than they did two centuries ago. "............how does this weakens the conclusion?

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by HSPA » Mon May 16, 2011 7:38 am
aspirant2011 wrote:
HSPA wrote:Option D is out of scope. Nuitrients are not part of discussion.

One more way:
Negate D:

Mainland and island have same nutrient content [after negating]
Does this help resolve this issue or does it weaken the conclusion?? NO
If we negate C then it becomes "The mainland's environment has changed in ways that have resulted in Turfil sunflowers on the mainland growing to be 40 centimeters taller than they did two centuries ago. "............how does this weakens the conclusion?
Let the initial length before seperation be = Y cm
After seperation:
Mainland = Y, island = Y - 40

Negated C says after seperation: Mainland = Y+40 and island = Y...
this is a total weakener...because it not only weakens the data regarding moisture in island but also extrapolates the mainland's land nutrient levels.
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by AIM GMAT » Tue May 17, 2011 5:39 am
IMO C

A. There are no types of vegetation on Tufe Island that are known to benefit from dry conditions. -- [Other types of vegetation , simply out of scope to discuss]

B. There were about as many Turfil sunflowers on Tufe Peninsula two centuries ago as there are on Tufe Island today. -- [Again how many sunflowers is irrelevant to discuss]

C. The mainland's environment has not changed in ways that have resulted in Turfil sunflowers on the mainland growing to be 40 centimeters taller than they did two centuries ago. -- [The argument is talking about the dry weather of island attributing to change in height so that means its is assumed that there is no change in the mainland climate thats why all the blame game is on little island :) ]

D. The soil on Tufe Island, unlike that on the mainland, lacks important nutrients that help Turfil sunflowers survive and grow tall in a dry environment. -- [Nutrients is not the factor that is to be discussed for the change in height only the climatic factor is in considertion as per the given argument]

E. The 40-centimeter height difference between the Turfil sunflowers on Tufe Island and those on the mainland is the only difference between the two populations. -- [Only diffrence ot not is not our concern , its already states that the height diffrenece is the change for which the argument evalutes the reason for being so .]
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by aspirant2011 » Tue May 17, 2011 7:01 am
thanks to all of you guys :-)

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by cd86 » Tue Sep 03, 2013 5:29 am
the conclusion says So the current average height of Tufe's Turfil sunflowers is undoubtedly at least partially attributable to changes in Tufe's environmental conditions

here i suppose Tufe's environmental conditions = (island+mainland)'s environmental consitions..so how does C serve to be an assumption on which the argument is based?

had the conclusion said attributable to changes in Tufe island 's environmental conditions..then C would make sense..right?[/u][/b]

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by richachampion » Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:30 pm
Did you study physics?
The concept of relative velocity: either my car is faster or your is slower.

The current plant on the peninsula is relatively shorter. so two possibilities:

1. either something changed so the plant on the mainland has grown taller as compared to its height 2 centuries back or
2. the plant on separated peninsula has grown shorter.


Option C is Point #1.
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