aspirant2011 wrote:People with serious financial problems are so worried about money that they cannot be happy. Their misery makes everyone close to them-family, friends, and colleagues-unhappy as well. Only if their financial problems are solved can they and those around them be happy.
Which one of the following statements can be properly inferred from the passage?
A. Only serious problems make people unhappy.
B. People who solve their serious financial problems will be happy.
C. People who do not have serious financial problems will be happy.
D. If people are unhappy, they have serious financial problems.
E. If people are happy, they do not have serious financial problems.
[spoiler]OA: After some discussion. How to solve such type of questions
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/sad.png)
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It's a theme that rarely comes up in the GMAT, but here goes:
If A---> then B
Does not mean that
not A --->not B.
For example:
"if it's hot, we'll hit the beach. "
does not mean that if it's not hot, we won't go to the beach. there might be other reasons for us to go to the beach, even though it's not hot - perhaps we like the cold, perhaps we like those winter sunsets, etc.
The only thing we CAN infer here is a reverse of the negation: if Not B ---> not A.
If we're not at the beach, id DOES mean that it's not hot - otherwise, if it were hot, we would be at the beach, right?
In the question above:
If we have financial problems (A), we are unhappy (B).
we can infer that if we're happy (Not B), we do not have financial problems (not A).
And the answer is
E.
B fails because of the use of the word "can" in the last sentence. if we solve financial problems, people CAN be happy - does not mean that they WILL be happy.
Remember this "formula" - there's a small chance that you'll encounter such a if A--> then B formula, and then look for an answer choice that says "not B----> not A" as the right inference.