Super market - super question

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najeeb775: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 30; Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2010 6:00 am; Thanked: 2 times

by najeeb775 » Sat Jul 02, 2011 5:28 am

Some 70 percent of consumers polled at an upscale supermarket said that they did not care for the taste of Apex toothpaste. Nonetheless, sales of Apex accounted for a full 75 percent of toothpaste sold at that supermarket. The conclusion that at least 75 percent of shoppers buying toothpaste did in fact enjoy the taste of Apex toothpaste relies on the assumption that ___________________.
Question
Which of the following best completes the passage?

A)most of the shoppers polled did not make any toothpaste purchases that day.
B)most shoppers who bought Apex did so because of its proven efficacy in fighting tooth decay.
C)nearly every shopper who bought Apex did so because he or she did not like its taste.
D)a large number of shoppers polled were dental professionals.
E)shoppers will not buy a certain brand of toothpaste if they do not care for its taste.

OA after discussion.

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Sat Jul 02, 2011 5:28 am

mirantdon: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 135; Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 9:00 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 4 times; GMAT Score:700

by mirantdon » Sat Jul 02, 2011 7:11 am

+1 for E

mriiidula: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 83; Joined: Sat May 28, 2011 4:16 amFollowed by: 1 member; Location: England; Thanked: 3 times; GMAT Score:700

by mriiidula » Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:35 am

A or E.

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maihuna: Legendary Member; Posts: 1578; Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:49 amFollowed by: 9 members; Thanked: 82 times; GMAT Score:720

by maihuna » Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:43 am

if it is an official Q, then ans must be E. if it is un-official i dont care as the question is poorly written. there is no apparent contradiction set up here...in 70 vs 75...

najeeb775 wrote:E)shoppers will not buy a certain brand of toothpaste if they do not care for its taste.

OA after discussion.

Charged up again to beat the beast

sanabk: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 174; Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 3:41 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 6 times

by sanabk » Sat Jul 02, 2011 5:53 pm

mathew.abrahamantony@gmai: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:42 am

by mathew.abrahamantony@gmai » Sun Jul 03, 2011 4:20 am

Why is B not an answer. Afterall the consumers may not like the taste, but they may go for it as it is a proven toothpaste.

mundasingh123: Legendary Member; Posts: 2330; Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:14 amFollowed by: 26 members; Thanked: 56 times

by mundasingh123 » Mon Jul 04, 2011 11:09 am

mathew.abrahamantony@gmai wrote:Why is B not an answer. Afterall the consumers may not like the taste, but they may go for it as it is a proven toothpaste.

the conclusion is talking about taste and we have to stick to the conclusion . tooth decay is outside the scope

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najeeb775: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 30; Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2010 6:00 am; Thanked: 2 times

by najeeb775 » Mon Jul 04, 2011 11:14 pm

OA E

Geva@EconomistGMAT: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 905; Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2010 1:38 amFollowed by: 123 members; Thanked: 378 times; GMAT Score:760

by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Mon Jul 04, 2011 11:24 pm

mathew.abrahamantony@gmai wrote:Why is B not an answer. Afterall the consumers may not like the taste, but they may go for it as it is a proven toothpaste.

The conclusion the argument is trying to prove is that 75% of the tooth-paste buyers actually liked Apex's taste. This is based only on the fact that apex accounts for 75% of paste sales, and actually seems to fly against the other premise that 70% of people polled do not like the apex taste, which seems to indicate that only 30% like the taste, and not 75%.

Because the conclusion seems to contradict the poll, I was looking for an assumption that says that the poll is somehow not indicative - the sample is too small, or the wrong sample (i.e. the people who answered the poll are not the people who buy paste in the first place). By POE, E is the only possible answer choice, but it ignores the results of the poll completely, and focuses only on bridging the gap between "75% bought the paste" to "75% like the taste". All I know is that many people bought the paste. In order to reach the conclusion that they like the taste JUST from the flimsy premise that they bought it, I HAVE to assume that taste is the deciding factor in choice of paste to buy.

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sl750: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 496; Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 5:34 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 38 times

by sl750 » Tue Jul 05, 2011 4:16 am

Answer choice E. This answer simply restates the conclusion that at least 75 percent of shoppers buying toothpaste did in fact enjoy the taste of Apex toothpaste

If you remove the double negatives in choice E, it states, shoppers will buy a certain brand of toothpaste if they do care for its taste

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