A magazine tested different microwave ovens and rated them on their

Question

A magazine tested nine different microwave ovens and rated them on their ability to heat food evenly, energy efficiency, ease of use, and quietness. The ratings in each category ranged from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). The following table shows the magazine's rating.

Brand and model 
 Price (€) 
 Heating evenness 
 Energy efficiency 
 Ease of use 
 Quietness 
 
  Micro GX 
 350 
 5 
 3 
 5 
 4 
 
  Heatwave 380 
 220 
 4 
 4 
 5 
 3 
 
  Micro TXi 
 230 
 4 
 4 
 3 
 4 
 
  Superchef Platinum 
 370 
 4 
 4 
 5 
 4 
 
  Luxo Premium 
 280 
 4 
 3 
 4 
 3 
 
  InstaCook CM-2000 
 300 
 2 
 5 
 3 
 3 
 
  Heatmiser PowerMax 
 330 
 4 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 
  Superchef Gold 
 220 
 3 
 4 
 4 
 1 
 
  Luxo Economy 
 170 
 4 
 1 
 4 
 3

Suppose that a consumer who used the table to help decide which microwave to buy chooses the Heatwave 380. Select  Helps explain  for each of the following statements that, if true, would help explain the consumer's decision on the basis of the information provided. Otherwise, select  Does not help explain .

ID   102500

Question #1 based on the same table is available here

Question #2 based on the same table is available here

IanStewart · Accepted Answer

I'm not really posting here any more, but since your question is easy to answer -- yes, you're exactly right, a consumer might have ten reasons to buy something, and if we only need to "help explain" that consumer's choice, then we only need to identify one of those reasons. Really we're just looking for answers that are consistent with the consumer's decision, and if ease of use was at least somewhat important to the person, then choosing Heatwave 380 makes sense, since it has a perfect ease of use rating.

The wording of DI questions can matter a lot, and we're often looking for answers that are not nearly as watertight as what we look for in, say, CR questions in the Verbal section.

bM22 · Answer

Given: a lower price constitutes a higher rating.

1. Price and energy efficiency -  No , as when we look at the table, we can see that the brand of microwave with the lowest price, does not have the highest efficiency.

2. Energy efficiency and ease of use -  No , again the brand of microwave with the highest Energy efficiency does not have the highest ease of use or vice versa.

3. Heating evenness and ease of use -  Yes , as we can see from the table, that the brand: Micro GX has the highest value in both the categories.

Apt0810 · Answer

1)No,since the brand with lower price doesn't have Highest efficiency

2)No,Brand with highest energy efficiency does not have Highest ease of use or vice versa

3)Yes,Micro GX has highest value of heating evenness and ease of use

2) Heatwave 380 is the straight winner since it satisfies all the criteria mentioned by the buyer and Luxo premium has price =280,which is greater than 250,so rejected and Micro GX has price(350) greater 250 ,so rejected

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

3. Suppose that a consumer who used the table to help decide which microwave to buy chooses the Heatwave 380. Select Helps explain for each of the following statements that, if true, would help explain the consumer’s decision on the basis of the information provided. Otherwise, select Does not help explain.

Using the table provided, the goal of this question is to determine if the statements help explain or do not explain why the consumer decided to purchase the Heatwave 380.

Statement 1:  The Heatwave 380 costs €220 with a quietness rating of 3. However, sorting the table by Price and Quietness, the quietest microwave under €250 is actually the Micro GX (Price = €230, Quietness = 4). Therefore, this  statement does not help explain  the consumer’s choice.

Statement 2:  Related to the first statement, the Micro GX is rated higher in quietness for only €10 more. Therefore,  this statement is false and does not help explain  the consumer’s decision.

Statement 3:  Relative to the other microwaves, the Heatwave 380 has the highest rating for Ease of use (5) but not for Quietness (3). Therefore,  this statement helps explain  the consumer’s decision.

Adarsh_24 · Answer

Sorry I don’t understand the explanation for 3rd, there are 3 models with rating of 5 in ease of use. In these three, 2 of them has quietness 4 rating and the model he chose had rating 3. It says less important so he can still consider it as second priority after ease of use.

IanStewart  ,
Can you please help here if its not too much trouble?

Is it because the question mentioned "help"? Since, anything in that general direction can be helpful and complete proof is not needed?

svsivakrishna · Answer

Given: Consumer chose   Heatwave 380.

For the first question:

- Consumer could have got the Micro Txi for $230 which is less than $250 and has the quiet rating of 4. Therefore No.

For the second question:

-Same explanation as first question, considering quietness as most important feature, and among the given data, maximum quietness rating is 4, he could have gotten Micro Txi for $230 which is only $10 more than the heatwave 380. Therefore No

For third question:

- Yes. heatwave 380 has highest rating of 5 for ease of use. Therefore quiteness was less important than was its ease of use

No 
  The consumer wanted to spend no more than €250 but wanted to get the quietest microwave within that budget.

No.  
  Although quietness was the most important feature to the consumer, to get one with a higher quietness rating would have cost at least €150 more, which the consumer considered to be too expensive.  
 
  Yes.  
  
  The microwave's quietness was less important to the consumer than was its ease of use.

kingbucky · Answer

Question 1:  
Sorting the Price column shows that Heatwave 380 and Micro TXi are both under €250, but Micro TXi (quietness 4) is rated quieter than Heatwave 380 (quietness 3).
 The correct answer is  No.

Question 2:  
Sorting the Quietness column shows that there are 4 microwave ovens with a higher quietness rating than Heatwave 380 (quietness 3), one of which—Micro TXi (quietness 4, cost €230)—costs only €10 more than Heatwave 380.
 The correct answer is  No.

Question 3: 
Heatwave 380's ease of use 5 (excellent) is rated much higher than its quietness 3 (midway between poor and excellent), and thus knowing that quietness was less important to the consumer than ease of use would help explain the consumer's decision.
 The correct answer is  Yes.

aviaroraa19 · Answer

Hey kindly help in Question 2

First of all we have to assume these options are true right?

If yes, it contradicts with what given in the table. So if we assume that the cost won't be 10 higher but 150 (as the option, which if true), then it does help explain why he went with the heatwave 380

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Brand and model	Price (€)	Heating evenness	Energy efficiency	Ease of use	Quietness
Micro GX	350	5	3	5	4
Heatwave 380	220	4	4	5	3
Micro TXi	230	4	4	3	4
Superchef Platinum	370	4	4	5	4
Luxo Premium	280	4	3	4	3
InstaCook CM-2000	300	2	5	3	3
Heatmiser PowerMax	330	4	2	3	4
Superchef Gold	220	3	4	4	1
Luxo Economy	170	4	1	4	3

Helps explain	Does not help explain
		The consumer wanted to spend no more than €250 but wanted to get the quietest microwave within that budget.
		Although quietness was the most important feature to the consumer, to get one with a higher quietness rating would have cost at least €150 more, which the consumer considered to be too expensive.
		The microwave’s quietness was less important to the consumer than was its ease of use.

	No	The consumer wanted to spend no more than €250 but wanted to get the quietest microwave within that budget.
	No.	Although quietness was the most important feature to the consumer, to get one with a higher quietness rating would have cost at least €150 more, which the consumer considered to be too expensive.
Yes.		The microwave's quietness was less important to the consumer than was its ease of use.

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