A greater number of newspapers are sold in Town S than in Town T. Ther

The passage tell us that more newspapers are sold in Town S that in Town T. But does that necessarily mean that the people in Town S read more news than people in Town T? The number of newspapers sold doesn't necessarily tell us anything about the amount of news that is read.

For example, maybe most people in Town S buy a newspaper, read a few headlines, and then throw it out. Or perhaps the newspapers sold in Town S are not very thorough (i.e. do not contain many news stories).

The people in Town T might buy fewer newspapers on average. But maybe the average newspaper in Town T is much longer and contains more news. Maybe the average person in Town T spends much more time actually reading the news, even though they don't buy as many newspapers.

Choice (C) would indeed weaken the conclusion, so it must be eliminated.

And welcome to GMAT Club, ariagrwl!

A greater number of newspapers are sold in Town S than in Town T. Therefore, the citizens of Town S are better informed about major world events than are the citizens of Town T.

Each of the following, if true, weakens the conclusion above EXCEPT:

(A) Town S has a larger population than Town T. -Weakener. If 500 out of 1000 buy newspaper in S and if 90 out of 100 buy newspaper in T then the argument goes for a toss

(B) Most citizens of Town T work in Town S and buy their newspapers there. -Clear weakener

(C) The average citizen of Town S spends less time reading newspapers than does the average citizen of Town T. -Clear weakener

(D) A weekly newspaper restricted to the coverage of local events is published in Town S. -The sales of a local newspaper is the cause of higher sales in S than in T. Thus, people in S won't be more educated about the "world" news than people in T. Weakener

(E) The average newsstand price of newspapers sold in Town S is lower than the average price of newspapers sold in Town T. -Irrelevant to the argument and thus correct choice

nightblade354 VeritasPrepKarishma

Can you please help me out here with my reasoning and PoE?


Premise: Greater number of newspapers sold in S than in T.
Conclusion: Citizens of S are more informed than of T.
A huge leap of sales of newspapers vs people being educated from them is made here.

Possible weakener: Internet is cheaper in S and all major news are covered on net.


Cross out anything in answer choice that weakens above argument:


gmatexam439 I could not follow you in explanations. How is number of people residing in either town
linked with the knowledge they gain from newspapers?

Same query as above: How is working in a particular town linked with not gaining / gaining
knowledge about major events?



GMATNinja , I apologize that in few of rare instances, I could not understand your earlier explanation.
The average here refers to fraction : total no of news articles read to total population?


gmatexam439 but does not as in (D) , (E) too provides an alternative explanation (sales) than the number of newspapers sold that
are responsible for people to gather more world news. If average price of newspapers in S is low average price of newspapers
in T (here average means: total price of newspapers / total no of newspapers sold) then more no of newspapers are sold in S (reducing denominaotor
of fraction will increase overall fraction)

adkikani,

Glad to help. (E) is absolutely, positively, 100 percently the answer. Who cares about price? If more newspapers are sold, how does price affect an already sold newspaper? It doesn't. This question isn't posed around income or revenue, it is about the information gathered. We don't care how much that information costs. This doesn't STRENGTHEN the argument, but it doesn't weaken it either. Hence, this is the answer. If you feel confused, I believe the people above will answer your inquiries about their specific posts, but know that if one answer is 100% correct and irrefutable, go with it!

(A) Town S has a larger population than Town T. - If the town has S has more population than town T and the conclusion did not take this into account. So, this weakens the conclusion as it cannot be better informed based on sales.

(B) Most citizens of Town T work in Town S and buy their newspapers there. - This accounts for some sales in S and so increase in sales in not totally accountable to informedness.

(C) The average citizen of Town S spends less time reading newspapers than does the average citizen of Town T. -Buying the newspaper does not guarantee the factor of informedness. As it is stated that people in town S read less than people of town T. This weakens the conclusion.

(D) A weekly newspaper restricted to the coverage of local events is published in Town S. - This increases the possibility of town S to have more knowledge and may weaken but not sure.

(E) The average newsstand price of newspapers sold in Town S is lower than the average price of newspapers sold in Town T. - As the prices are low and sales are high, this implies that more people are buying and there is a possibility that they are getting more informed so this option kind of strengthens the conclusion.

Amond D and E.
I choose E.

Can anyone explain a good reason why E and not D?

VeritasKarishma GMATNinja

Could I possibly ask you for your take on answer choice D? I was deciding between D and E and went with D.

My reasoning: if there is one newspaper that focuses on local news then so what? From the prompt we know that there is a greater number of newspapers sold in Town S. Thank you.

Yes, we know that a greater number of newspapers are sold in town S. On the basis of this, we are saying that people of S are more well informed about GLOBAL EVENTS.

Now, if we come to know that one of the newspapers is local news only, it does bring our conclusion in question since our conclusion is based on number of newspapers sold only. If some of those sold do not discuss global events, we are not sure that people of A are more well informed about global events. Note that a weakener needs to bring doubt regarding the conclusion. It doesn't need to prove that the conclusion is false.

According to the passage, the citizens of Town S are better informed about major world events than are the citizens of Town T because the number of newspapers sold in Town S are greater than in Town T.

Each of the following, if true, weakens the conclusion above EXCEPT:

We have to find a point which don't weakens the passage, that doesn't mean it have to strengthen passage either.

(A) Town S has a larger population than Town T.(This weaken the passage, let's say the population of town S is 10 million and Town T is 5 million. So even if 4 million purchase newpaper in Town T and Town S people purchase 6 million paper. The people of Town T are more informed as 80% population of Town T are reading newspaper as compared to 60% of Town S)(Correct)

(B) Most citizens of Town T work in Town S and buy their newspapers there.(So if the population of Town S consist of population of Town T as well, the population of Town T is more informed than Town S people as they are purchasing newspaper in Town S hence increasing the purchase unit of town S but not increasing the information among town S people) (Correct)

(C) The average citizen of Town S spends less time reading newspapers than does the average citizen of Town T. (Average is total reading time/total population so if average of town S is less than town T, town T people read more newspaper. Weakening the statement) (Correct)

(D) A weekly newspaper restricted to the coverage of local events is published in Town S.(if the newspaper is town S is covering only local news, then we can't say they are more informed about everything than town T, information consist all type of information, local or domestically. Even though they are not talking about town T people all we need to prove is that town S people are not exactly well informed. Weakening the statement) (Correct)

(E) The average newsstand price of newspapers sold in Town S is lower than the average price of newspapers sold in Town T.(The statement have nothing to do with either strengthening or weakening the statement, the price of newspaper stand has nothing to do information level of either town) (Incorrect)

Answer is E

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Late night fatigue kicking in...I selected A by mistake thinking that size of population is irrelevant. Alas, it actually does weaken the argument because it could mean fewer people in S are more informed relative to the people in town T.

A greater number of newspapers are sold in Town S than in Town T. Therefore, the citizens of Town S are better informed about major world events than are the citizens of Town T.

Each of the following, if true, weakens the conclusion above EXCEPT:


(A) Town S has a larger population than Town T. X

(B) Most citizens of Town T work in Town S and buy their newspapers there. X

(C) The average citizen of Town S spends less time reading newspapers than does the average citizen of Town T. X

(D) A weekly newspaper restricted to the coverage of local events is published in Town S. X

(E) The average newsstand price of newspapers sold in Town S is lower than the average price of newspapers sold in Town T.

Correct. This is strengthens the argument...a barrier to acquisition is reduced so people in Town S will be more likely to purchase, read, and be more informed.

mira93, nightblade354, carouselambra

Should not the E option be:
(E) The average newsstand newspapers price of newspapers sold in Town S is lower than the average price of newspapers sold in Town T.

Using newsstand in the argument, option completely becomes irrelevant and obvious correct answer.

I think moderator can replace newsstand with newspapers.

Conclusion: Therefore, the citizens of Town S are better informed about major world events than are the citizens of Town T.

Pre-thinking: To weaken the argument, there may more people to read newspaper in Town S or people in Town S spend time less than Town T or newspapers doesn't cover events in Town S. Let's check.

Each of the following, if true, weakens the conclusion above EXCEPT:

(A) Town S has a larger population than Town T. -> Incorrect as per our pre-thinking. More people means more readers in Town S.

(B) Most citizens of Town T work in Town S and buy their newspapers there. -> Again, It is weakening the argument. Incorrect.

(C) The average citizen of Town S spends less time reading newspapers than does the average citizen of Town T. -> Another Incorrect reason, as per our prethinking.

(D) A weekly newspaper restricted to the coverage of local events is published in Town S. -> It is also weakening argument.

(E) The average newsstand price of newspapers sold in Town S is lower than the average price of newspapers sold in Town T. -> If price is lower in Town S then we don't know, if people are buy or not buying newspaper. It is not weakening or strengthening the argument.

So, I think E.

mSKR, newsstand price of newspapers is the price at which the newspapers are sold at the newsstand. The sentence seems perfect with the word newsstand. What you're suggesting would lead to newspapers price of newspapers and that would be incorrect.

VeritasKarishma GMATNinja AndrewN nightblade354 egmat yashikaaggarwal

I have a doubt in option D and E. I marked D.

My reasoning:-
A weekly newspaper is published in Town S . Ok I get this. But does publishing means people are actually buying it?? Some residents may or may not buy. We are making an assumption here that publishing of a newspaper is related to buying. If that is the case, this option will weaken.

Coming to this option. If we can make an assumption in option D above to weaken that option, here also an assumption can be made. Since average newspaper price in Town S is lower than that in Town T, people in town S buy more newspaper. This option thus weakens.

Kindly let me know where am I going wrong??

So, let's say.
Town S have 1000 people who bought 300-400 normal newspaper. While town T people with 500 people are reading at the capacity of 100% so bought 500 newspaper.

This Special edition, if not purchased by all. Then out of these 300-400 people atleast 300 are buying it (we have to keep town S newspaper maximum)

So town S have 700 and town T 500, but Town T people are more informed.

Even if there is one condition which weakens the statement above. The option will nullify
Similar to DS, where if we have two possible answers from one statement, we don't choose it. Similar happened to D.

While E is confusing for myself, but it's more feasible than others.
Why??
others are weakening the statement, while this option have nothing to do with statement at all.
Kind of odd one out.
Rest I am sure experts will be following up.

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More newspapers are sold in town S.

Conclusion: People of town S are better informed about major world events. (because more of them read newspapers)

We need to find 4 options that weaken this conclusion. So we need 4 options that say that people of town S may not be better informed of major world events.

(E) The average newsstand price of newspapers sold in Town S is lower than the average price of newspapers sold in Town T.
This could be the reason why more papers are sold in town S or it may have nothing to do with how many papers are sold or since more papers are sold so papers could be cheaper, but whatever may be the case, does it mean people of town S may not be better informed about world events? No.
If more papers are sold in town S (whatever may be the reason for more), then people of town S are better informed as per our conclusion. Knowing that papers are cheaper in S does not indicate in any way that people of S are not better informed.
So (E) does not weaken the conclusion and hence is the answer.

(D) A weekly newspaper restricted to the coverage of local events is published in Town S.
This explains why people of town S may NOT be better informed of world events though more papers are sold there. If local events papers are sold, they may be responsible for the extra papers sold.
Note that when we say this paper is published, it means there is "some" circulation at least. We cannot say that nobody may be buying it. It makes no business and logical sense to keep printing paper that nobody buys.
In any case, option (D) gives us an indication why inspite of having higher circulation of newspapers, town S people may not be better informed of world events. So it certainly makes us doubt our conclusion.

VeritasKarishma I don't understand this. You assume the circulation here. You could say there is atleast some circulation whereas I could say the circulation is negligible compared to the population of S. It's debatable. Therefore we cannot conclude that the mere publication of this newspaper makes it read by the people and by extension makes them more/less informed. Therefore does not weaken.

Hi Experts, Bunuel GMATNinja @veritaskarishma nightblade354 requesting a quick clarification:

the argument gives us a fact and its implication chain: newspapers sold more ----> hence people better informed.

Option B and C are clear weakener. For A, D and E. Here's how I thought; would you kindly help me identify where I am going wrong. I Picked A as my choice between A and E.

A) S has more people --> hence sold more --> does nothing to weaken this chain : sold more --> better informed. The reason why newspaper might have sold more is suggested, but people can still be better informed (as presented in the question stem). Does nothing -- KEEP & CHECK OTHERS.

D) A weekly newspaper that covers local content is there in S --> if the local newspaper sales contributes to the original newspaper in question (that was Sold more) then it may weaken. With this assumption it gives a potential to weaken. ELIMINATED

E) The average newsstand price of newspaper in S > avg price of newspapers in T. Here's my thinking: if the newspaper cost is less in Town S than in Town T, the reduced cost could be a reason for more sales. Similar to the reasoning in A, this option gives a potential reason for improved sales, but people can still be better informed (as presented in the question stem). Does nothing -- KEEP.

AFTER COMPARING A and E, I selected A for the time sake. I would appreciate a little help here. Thanks.