CR electorate

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nauman: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 36; Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:15 am

by nauman » Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:15 pm

Only if the electorate is moral and intelligent will a democracy function well.
Which one of the following can be logically inferred from the claim above?
(A) If the electorate is moral and intelligent, then a democracy will function well.
(B) Either a democracy does not function well or else the electorate is not moral or not intelligent.
(C) If the electorate is not moral or not intelligent, then a democracy will not function well.
(D) If a democracy does not function well, then the electorate is not moral or not intelligent.
(E) It cannot, at the same time, be true that the electorate is moral and intelligent and that a democracy will not function well.

Could somebody explain the answer?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:15 pm

torontogmat.com: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 26; Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:34 am; Location: Toronto; Thanked: 7 times

Logic

by torontogmat.com » Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:36 am

A --> B is pronounced 'A implies B'. If A is true, then B must be true.

In this case democracy functions well only if the electorate is moral. (D)emocracy --> (M)orality.

In logic, if A --> B, then Not B --> Not A.

Example: If it is raining, I will use an umbrella. R --> U.
Therefore, if I am not using an umbrella, it is not raining. Not U --> Not R.

Therefore we can write:

No Morality implies No Democracy. C.

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sankruth: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 195; Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 4:33 am; Thanked: 10 times

Re: Logic

by sankruth » Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:20 am

torontogmat.com wrote:A --> B is pronounced 'A implies B'. If A is true, then B must be true.

In this case democracy functions well only if the electorate is moral. (D)emocracy --> (M)orality.

In logic, if A --> B, then Not B --> Not A.

Example: If it is raining, I will use an umbrella. R --> U.
Therefore, if I am not using an umbrella, it is not raining. Not U --> Not R.

Therefore we can write:

No Morality implies No Democracy. C.

I agree with your logic but the correct answer should be D, as it complies with 'Not B --> Not A'

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Stuart@KaplanGMAT: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3225; Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:40 pmFollowed by: 614 members; Location: Toronto; Thanked: 1710 times; GMAT Score:800

by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:25 pm

TorontoGMAT interpreted the question correctly.

"Only if the electorate is moral and intelligent will a democracy function well."

A moral and intelligent electorate is necessary to the functioning of democracy. Therefore, if we don't have a moral and intelligent electorate, we won't have a well-functioning democracy: choose (c).

To chose (d), we'd have to interpret the original as:

"If the electorate is moral and intelligent, a democracy will function well", which ignores the "only" part of the sentence.

Further, if you interpet the statement that way, both (a) and (e) would also be 100% correct. Since that interpretation leads to 3 correct choices, we know that it can't be right.

Stuart Kovinsky | Kaplan GMAT Faculty | Toronto

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nauman: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 36; Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:15 am

by nauman » Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:40 am

Thanks for all for detail explanation.

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khanshainur: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 300; Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2013 2:26 am

by khanshainur » Tue May 10, 2016 1:25 am

I totally agree with you, guys!

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