sushmash wrote:
The only way that bookstores can profitably sell books at below-market prices is to get the books at a discount from publishers. Unless bookstores generate a high sales volume, however, they cannot get discounts from publishers. To generate such volume, bookstores must either cater to mass tastes or have exclusive access to a large specialized market, such as medical market, or both.
Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?
(A) If a bookstore receives discounts from publishers, it will profitably sell books at below-market prices.
(B) A bookstore that caters to mass tastes or has exclusive access to a large specialized market will have a high sales volume.
(C) A bookstore that profitably sells books at below-market prices gets discounts from publishers.
(D) A bookstore that does not sell books at below-market prices does not get discounts from publishers
(E) A bookstore that not only caters to mass tastes but also has exclusive access to a large specialized market cannot profitably sell books at below-market prices.
i'd start by diagramming the original statement piece by piece:
The only way that bookstores can profitably sell books at below-market prices is to get the books at a discount from publishers
1.
if books sold profitably sub-market price -> then books received @discount--
Unless bookstores generate a high sales volume, however, they cannot get discounts from publishers
2.
if [strike]high sales volume[/strike] -> then [strike]discount from publishers[/strike]--
To generate such volume, bookstores must either cater to mass tastes or have exclusive access to a large specialized market, such as medical market, or both.
3.
if high sales volume -> then (cater mass tastes) or (large specialized market)--
now we can arrange them in such a way that it makes sense. i would invert diagram #2 to its contrapositive
if discount from publishers -> then high sales volume can be generatednow combine all 3:
4. if books sold profitably sub market prices -> books received @ discount -> then high sales volume generated -> then must cater to mass taste and/or have large specialized marketnow look at the 5 choices.
A) if discount from publisher -> sell profitably. this is an incorrect statement from looking at our combined #4
B) if caters mass taste or specialized market -> high sales volume. this is an incorrect statement (it is reversed)
C) if profitably sells below market -> books received @ discounts (this is correct from looking @ #4)
D) if [strike]profitably sell below market[/strike] -> then[strike]discounts from publisher[/strike] ; this is incorrect as it is an incorrect negation
E) if caters mass taste and specialized market -> then [strike]profitably sell below market[/strike]; again incorrect from looking at #4
remember if you have this statement:
if A -> then B
you can reverse it by saying
If [strike]B[/strike] -> then [strike]A[/strike]
but if you were to say:
If B -> then A, this would be incorrect. whenever you reverse a statement, you need to change the "sign" (by adding the word "not" before it). so in this example, part D incorrectly negated the first part of #4: (if books sold profitably sub market -> then books received at discount)
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