Critical Reasoning

Last year, of the reported thefts that occurred in shopping malls in Texas, the percentage that took place in digital electronic stores increased by two percent from the year before. Because most thefts do not result in the return of stolen goods, this increase likely resulted in a negative economic impact on these digital electronic stores that was greater than the impact that had been accounted for by their yearly budgets, for stores make predictions about the loss of money due to theft based on the number of thefts they recorded in the previous year.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument given?

1.People who steal and are not caught and forced to return the merchandise are likely to steal again.
2.The percentage of reported thefts in shopping malls in Texas that were from jewelry stores last year also increased.
3.Last year, of the total number of thefts from shopping malls across the United States, the percentage of thefts from shopping malls in Texas was lower than it had been the year before.
4.Merchandise stolen from digital electronics stores is generally more expensive than that stolen from other stores.
5.The number of total thefts that were reported in shopping malls in Texas last year was significantly lower than it has been in a decade.

IMO

could not understand what A is saying : people are not caught and forced to return ..how ??

I think ans is E,as the no. of theft has decreased significantly so even if % of threats increase by 2% , no of threats in digital stores will reduce.

e

IMO E

% of reprtd thefts in dig elctrnc stores out of reprtd thefts in shopp mall of Texas incr by 2%
-ve impact on these digital electronic stores > impact on per yearly budgets (based on numbr of thefts last year)

1.People who steal and are not caught and forced to return the merchandise are likely to steal again.
-> does not talk abt any number of thefts. irrelevant
2.The percentage of reported thefts in shopping malls in Texas that were from jewelry stores last year also increased. -> jewellery stores. irrelavant
3.Last year, of the total number of thefts from shopping malls across the United States, the percentage of thefts from shopping malls in Texas was lower than it had been the year before. -> thefts in shopping mall of texas out of thefts in shopng malls of US. irrelevant
4.Merchandise stolen from digital electronics stores is generally more expensive than that stolen from other stores. -> cost of merchandise stolen. if % increased, then impact should increase. strengthen
5.The number of total thefts that were reported in shopping malls in Texas last year was significantly lower than it has been in a decade. - > number of thefts in shopping mall has decreased. this means that even if the number of thefts in electronic stores is same as last year, the % will have increased. thus weaken the conclusion that it will have -ve impact on budget

vikram4689 wrote:could not understand what A is saying : people are not caught and forced to return ..how ??

I think ans is E,as the no. of theft has decreased significantly so even if % of threats increase by 2% , no of threats in digital stores will reduce.

Hi,
I think the intended meaning of A is people are not (caught and forced to return)...
i.e. people are not caught and hence not forced to return ....

Agree with E as some folks have already posted the explanation.

IMO E

IMO E

OA is E. as per the source.
Thanks for the Explanations.

Hello Galaxian,

I did arrive at Option E by the process of elimination but couldn't provide an example which could substantiate my reasoning. Could you please provide an example which shows that option E is indeed correct?

Regards,
Amit

gmat_for_life wrote:I did arrive at Option E by the process of elimination but couldn't provide an example which could substantiate my reasoning. Could you please provide an example which shows that option E is indeed correct?

The prompt says the following.

The percentage of total thefts in shopping malls in Texas that is represented by thefts from digital electronic stores went up 2%.

Therefore, digital electronic stores experienced more theft than they had expected.

E says that total thefts in Texas shopping malls went down significantly.

What this means is that even if the digital electronics stores experienced a 2% higher percentage of total thefts, that higher percentage could represent a decrease in actual thefts at digital electronics stores.

Here is an example.

Year Before Last:

• Total Thefts: 1000
  
  Percentage Of Total At Digital Electronic Stores: 20
  
  Number At Digital Electronic Stores: 200

Last Year:

• Total Thefts: 800
  
  Percentage Of Total At Digital Electronic Stores: 22
  
  Number At Digital Electronic Stores: 176