According to a recent large-scale survey of peoplewho had purchased

Question

According to a recent large-scale survey of people who had purchased new home exercise equipment during the past five years, ten percent of motorized treadmills purchased during that period had required repairs more than once, whereas only two percent of nonmotorized treadmills had ever needed repair. Therefore, people who want to buy a treadmill for regular workouts can rely on having their routine disrupted far less often if they buy a nonmotorized rather than a motorized treadmill.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. Nonmotorized treadmills provide at least as good a workout for people who use them regularly as motorized treadmills do.
B. At least as many people in the survey had purchased motorized treadmills as had purchased nonmotorized treadmills.
C. Motorized treadmills do not generally take longer to repair than nonmotorized treadmills.
D. People who have bought treadmills are not far more likely to use them regularly over the long term if they are motorized than if they are nonmotorized.
E. People who purchased new treadmills within the past year are not far more likely than people who purchased treadmills five years ago to have purchased motorized treadmills.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Accepted Answer

According to a recent large-scale survey of people who had purchased new home exercise equipment during the past five years, ten percent of motorized treadmills purchased during that period had required repairs more than once, whereas only two percent of nonmotorized treadmills had ever needed repair. Therefore, people who want to buy a treadmill for regular workouts can rely on having their routine disrupted far less often if they buy a nonmotorized rather than a motorized treadmill.

We see that the passage presents a scenario in which a greater percentage of motorized treadmills than of nonmotorized treadmills needed repair.

Then, the question asks the following:

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

The argument supports the following conclusion:

people who want to buy a treadmill for regular workouts can rely on having their routine disrupted far less often if they buy a nonmotorized rather than a motorized treadmill

The support for the conclusion is the following:

According to a recent large-scale survey ... ten percent of motorized treadmills purchased during that period (the past five years) had required repairs more than once, whereas only two percent of nonmotorized treadmills had ever needed repair.

Let's now go to the answer choices.

A. Nonmotorized treadmills provide at least as good a workout for people who use them regularly as motorized treadmills do.

This choice supports the wrong conclusion. The conclusion of this argument is about people "having their routine disrupted far less often." That conclusion does not depend on nonmotorized treadmills providing at least as good a workout as motorized ones.

Eliminate.

B. At least as many people in the survey had purchased motorized treadmills as had purchased nonmotorized treadmills.

This choice is irrelevant. Notice that the support for the conclusion involves percentages of treadmills that required repairs. Those percentages would presumably be the same and have the same implications regardless of how many of each type of treadmill were purchased.

In other words, regardless of what number of people purchased either kind of treadmill, the percentages will indicate the same probability that one type or the other will need repairs.

Eliminate.

C. Motorized treadmills do not generally take longer to repair than nonmotorized treadmills.

This choice goes in the wrong direction. After all, if, contrary to what this choice says, motorized treadmills DO generally take longer to repair than nonmotorized treadmills, then people who use motorized treadmills will have their routines disrupted by not only a greater number of incidents involving repairs but also longer periods of time needed for repairs. Thus, if this choice were not true, then the argument would be even more convincing.

So, clearly, the argument does not depend on this choice.

Eliminate.

D. People who have bought treadmills are not far more likely to use them regularly over the long term if they are motorized than if they are nonmotorized.

This choice may seem irrelevant. However, if we consider this choice carefully, we see that it introduces another factor that matters.

After all, if people who have bought treadmills ARE far more likely to use them regularly over the long term if they are motorized than if they are nonmotorized, then maybe the reason why motorized treadmills need repairs more often is that people are using them more regularly.

So, if this choice were NOT true, then the argument would fall apart because, in that case, the evidence provided would no longer support the conclusion. Rather, it could be the case that, even though motorized treadmills need repairs more often, they are not less reliable than nonmotorized treadmills. They just get used more.

Keep.

E. People who purchased new treadmills within the past year are not far more likely than people who purchased treadmills five years ago to have purchased motorized treadmills.

This choice has no effect on the argument. The argument is based on the differences in the percentages of the two types of treadmills needing repairs. The proportions of the different types of treadmills purchased does not affect the support provided by that evidence about the percentages needing repairs.

After all, the fact that the proportion of people purchasing a type of treadmill increased or didn't increase has no bearing on whether that type of treadmill is or is not more reliable than another type.

Eliminate.

Answer: (D)

KarishmaB · Answer

Premises: Of people who purchased treadmills in last 5 years, Motorized treadmills - 10% required repairs more than once Nonmotorized treadmills - Only 2% had ever needed repairs Conclusion: People who want to buy a treadmill for regular workouts can rely on having their routine disrupted far less often if they buy a nonmotorized rather than a motorized treadmill. For now, the conclusion seems to make sense. Those who want to do regular workouts (say everyday), will have their routines disturbed much less if they buy the nonmotorized one. Looks like it. After all, only 2% of them ever need repairs. But there is an assumption here. So let's look at the options. At first thought, I can't think of what the assumption may be. A. Nonmotorized treadmills provide at least as good a workout for people who use them regularly as motorized treadmills do. Irrelevant. The only factor being discussed is 'routine disruption'. Whether the workout would be better or worse (whatever the parameters for measuring that is) is not being discussed. B. At least as many people in the survey had purchased motorized treadmills as had purchased nonmotorized treadmills. This is not required. We know that it was a large-scale survey. So many would have bought both types. The sampling size for one, even if it is smaller than the other, doesn't mean it is not representative. We are given large-scale so that indicates that it is representative. Say if it was a survey of 10,000 people and 4000 bought motorized while 6000 bought nonmotorized, does it make any difference? Even if we negate it and say that fewer people bought the motorized one, so what? The survey results talk about the percentage of repairs, not absolute values. So of 4000 motorized ones, 400 required repairs more than once. While of 6000 nonmotorized ones, barely 120 required repairs ever. Since we have results in percentage terms, number of treadmills is irrelevant. C. Motorized treadmills do not generally take longer to repair than nonmotorized treadmills. Length of disruption is irrelevant. D. People who have bought treadmills are not far more likely to use them regularly over the long term if they are motorized than if they are nonmotorized. The length of use does impact the frequency of repairs. Say of the 100 people who buy motorized one, all 100 use them regularly. Then 10% need repairs multiple times. They are getting used regularly after all. Say of the 100 people who buy unmotorized one, only 5 use them regularly. The rest use them for a few days and then let them stand (as we know happens very often with treadmills!). Then the 95 will obviously never need repairs if they are not getting used or used rarely. Of 5, if 2 go for repairs, that is 40%. Suddenly the unmotorized ones don't look so good. If people are far more likley to use the motorized ones regularly, then we would expect more frequent repairs for them. Negate it: People who have bought treadmills are far more likely to use them regularly over the long term if they are motorized than if they are nonmotorized. Notice the use of "far more likely". This is a hint that the author is looking at an extreme difference as taken in the example. Our conclusion breaks here. E. People who purchased new treadmills within the past year are not far more likely than people who purchased treadmills five years ago to have purchased motorized treadmills. There is no comparison between "one year ago" and "5 years ago" hence this is irrelevant. Answer (D) Discussion on Assumption Questions: https://youtu.be/O0ROJfljRLU A Hard Assumption Question: https://youtu.be/0j4tovGifIg

nazii · Answer

Dear friend  MartyTargetTestPrep 
regarding answer choice B & E
How we can say that total number of treadmill in each group (motorized V.s NOn) is not important?
consider if only 20 motorized treadmills were sold, number of repaired is 2, and if 100 nonmotorized were sold, the number of repaired would be 2 as well. So, I think there would be an assumption regarding total number of each category as well for the conclusion to be true!
would you pls help me with this?
Thanks in advance for your time

YashYashkratos · Answer

Picked D as the correct answer

however E) says something i observed some have missed- if in the study one type of treadmill was purchased earlier does'nt it mean they were observed over a longer period of time than the non motorized treadmill ?

what is the source of the question?

dpchen · Answer

The source is GMAT Prep (Focus). I encountered it on one of the free practice exams.

I picked E because of that very reason. It's reasonable that 5-year old treadmills are more likely to require repair than 1-year old treadmills, regardless of type.

In retrospect, if E had said "People who purchased new treadmills within the past year are not far more likely than people who purchased treadmills five years ago to have purchased  nonmotorized  treadmills" then IMO this would have been as valid as D.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

According to a recent large-scale survey of people who had purchased new home exercise equipment during the past five years, ten percent of motorized treadmills purchased during that period had required repairs more than once, whereas only two percent of nonmotorized treadmills had ever needed repair. Therefore, people who want to buy a treadmill for regular workouts can rely on having their routine disrupted far less often if they buy a nonmotorized rather than a motorized treadmill.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. Nonmotorized treadmills provide at least as good a workout for people who use them regularly as motorized treadmills do.
B. At least as many people in the survey had purchased motorized treadmills as had purchased nonmotorized treadmills.
C. Motorized treadmills do not generally take longer to repair than nonmotorized treadmills.
D. People who have bought treadmills are not far more likely to use them regularly over the long term if they are motorized than if they are nonmotorized.
E. People who purchased new treadmills within the past year are not far more likely than people who purchased treadmills five years ago to have purchased motorized treadmills.

The passage talks about people who bought gym equipment for their homes. 10 out of 100 who bought motorized treadmills had to get them repaired multiple times. Only 2 out of 100, however, who bought non-motorized treadmills had to repair them. The theory therefore is that if you want something that doesn't interrupt your exercise routine you should get non-motorized treadmills.

We're asked to look for an assumption.

(D) is the answer. If people who bought motorized treadmills were far more likely to use them compared to non-motorized, then the chances of them getting damaged is far higher. Imagine a smartphone you buy but only use once a year. Chances are it won't get broken even if you keep it for 10 years. That doesn't necessarily mean the device itself was more solidly built.

Guntabulla · Answer

Was debating between B and D. Went with B for the following reason: While the question does deal with a percentage the number of each type of treadmill does still matter. It could be possible that the a smaller sample of motorized was picked but that size had a larger number of failures due to sampling bias.

Is this too much assumption for the question?

Is this too much assumption for the question?

cats · Answer

i did the same , if anyone can answer as to why this is wrong

MartyMurray · Answer

Let's take a look at (B).

B. At least as many people in the survey had purchased motorized treadmills as had purchased nonmotorized treadmills.

Notice that (B) doesn't say "The number of people who purchased motorized treadmills was not tiny."

It basically says just that the number of people who purchased motorized treadmills was no less than the number who purchased nonmotorized treadmills.

So, we can't run with (B) and interpret it as saying that the number of people who purchased motorized treadmills was not tiny because that interpretation involves a new meaning that (B) doesn't have. After all, "at least as many" and "was not tiny" have quite different meanings.

Thus, while it's true that the argument relies on the assumption that the number of people who purchased motorized treadmills was not so tiny that the statistics are unreliable, since that's not what (B) says or logically implies, (B) is not a necessary assumption.

sayan640 · Answer

KarishmaB  Can you please throw some more light on option B and D ?  chetan2u   GMATNinja

Blackcrow1972 · Answer

Why Option D Is Essential to the Argument:
If motorized treadmills are used far more regularly over the long term, their higher repair rate might simply reflect their more frequent usage, not their inherent lack of reliability. In that case, the evidence about repair rates would not justify the conclusion that nonmotorized treadmills are better for avoiding disruptions to regular workouts.

By assuming Option D is true (that usage frequency is not significantly different between motorized and nonmotorized treadmills), the argument ensures that the higher repair rate of motorized treadmills is due to their design or mechanical complexity, not their increased use. This makes the conclusion valid.

If Option D Were False:
If people use motorized treadmills far more regularly, the argument would fail because the higher repair rate could simply be a function of greater wear and tear from higher usage. In that case:

Nonmotorized treadmills might appear more reliable, but only because they are used less, not because they are inherently better at avoiding disruptions.

johnm2 · Answer

Thought the same exact thing, that and D is written so abstrusely that it fails to make much sense at all

JuniqueLid · Answer

Thank you Marty. I understand the rationale for D to be the right answer, however, would appreciate some further clarification.

I learnt that one method to test for assumptions is seeing if the opposite of an answer option breaks the conclusion, if it does, then the conclusion relies on the choice as an assumption. In this case, the opposite of D would be "people who bought motorised are more likely to use them regularly" - if this was true, then having motorised treadmils that are more prone to breakdowns will certainly have their routine disrupted. This supports the conclusion that people with a regular workout routine should choose nonmotorised over motorised - more so for those who workout even more regularly! Since the opposite of D didn't break the assumption, D is not a necessary assumption that the conclusion depends on.

I think the main difference in this thinking, compared to yours, is on what is the conclusion of the passage. Yours is that "motorised are less reliable" vs. the above is "people with regular workout routines should choose nomotorised over motorised" on the premises that "nonmotorised is less likely to disrupt their routines due to downtime". The former seems more of an interim conclusion, which leads to the latter final and main conclusion. What's the issue in this thinking?

Thank you very much.

SwethaReddyL · Answer

Hi  bb  /  gmatophobia  / GMATNinja  - sorry, but even after reading all the explanations still couldn't consider 'B' as not relevant. I understand why D is right, but when considering about percentage of samples isn't it necessary for the size of the sample to be same while comparing them? Need your thoughts on this please

Thanks in advance,
Swetha

GMATNinja · Answer

The question isn't whether (B) is relevant. The question is whether it has to be true for the argument to hold. So let's dig in with a concrete example that contradicts the statement to see whether it really does need to be true.

Let's suppose that 100 people buy a motorized treadmill and 150 buy a non-motorized one.

Well, 10% of the 100 people with the motorized treadmill (10 people total) are now cranky and using their broken treadmills as a drying rack for their clothes (let's call this speculation informed by personal experience 😬 ). But only 2% of the 150 people with the non-motorized treadmill (3 people total) are cranky about broken equipment. Still seems like the non-motorized treadmills are the better bet, right?

So clearly, it doesn't have to be true that there at least as many people with a motorized treadmill. The argument still holds. Because (B) doesn't have to be true, we can discard it.

I hope that helps!

SwethaReddyL · Answer

Thank you so much for getting back. I get it now. Also, when it comes to assumption questions, something similar always happens to me, when they generalize saying something is better than the other over a sample/survey - there is always an option that says that the representative of the sample is not comparable in almost all cases  - sometimes it is right and most of the times it is wrong.

How do you suggest me to look through it? 
I am not sure if i am making sense, lemme know I'll explain my question in detail 😬

GMATNinja · Answer

The trouble is that every question is unique, so it's really hard to give simple, concrete advice on how to avoid certain pitfalls. And the last thing you want to do is lazily apply "tricks" to get out of the hard work of thinking really hard about each new, unique question that you see.

The unsatisfying truth is that you simply have to practice reading carefully and thinking hard about the details of the language (as explained in our  CR guide for beginners ).

That said, feel free to elaborate on your question or tag us on other questions that might illustrate what you're referring to!

egmat · Answer

This is a classic GMAT assumption question that tests your ability to identify hidden premises in arguments about survey data and predictions. Let me walk you through the core logic.

Step 1: Understand the Argument Structure 
The argument presents survey data:

Motorized treadmills: 10% needed repairs more than once
Nonmotorized treadmills: 2% ever needed repair

Then concludes: People wanting  regular workouts  will have fewer disruptions with nonmotorized treadmills.

Step 2: Identify the Gap 
Notice the jump from "repair statistics from all buyers" to "disruption predictions for regular users." The argument assumes these repair rates tell us something meaningful about workout disruptions for people who actually use their treadmills regularly.

Step 3: Apply the Negation Test 
For assumption questions, negate the answer choice and see if it destroys the argument.

Let's examine  Answer D : "People who have bought treadmills are  not  far more likely to use them regularly over the long term if they are motorized than if they are nonmotorized."

Negated: People ARE far more likely to use motorized treadmills regularly.

If this were true, then motorized treadmills might have higher repair rates simply because they get used much more frequently! A treadmill used daily will naturally need more repairs than one used once a month. This would completely undermine the conclusion that nonmotorized treadmills cause fewer disruptions for regular users.

Why Other Answers Don't Work:

A  - Workout quality is irrelevant; we're only concerned with disruption frequency
 B  - The argument uses percentages, so sample sizes don't matter
 C  - Repair duration doesn't affect the frequency-based argument

Answer: D

Want to master the complete framework for identifying assumptions in survey-based arguments? Check out  Neuron by e-GMAT for the full solution , including 3 alternative approaches and the systematic method that works across all assumption questions. You'll also discover the common trap patterns GMAT uses with statistical reasoning. You can access detailed explanations for Official Guide questions and practice custom quizzes on  Neuron here .

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