The number of patents granted to inventors by the United States Patent

no. of patents dropped in 1978, but at the same time spending spending on RnD(which was 3% of GDP in 1964) was now = 2.2 % of the GDP in 1978.
+ when US was dec, Japan and Germany were increasing its expenditure in RnD.

from the above info. the only conclusion i can get is
US GDP was lager in 1978 but had less investors at the same time exp. other nation had their expenditure increased in RnD.

(a) There is direct relationship between the size of a nation’s GNP and the number of inventions it produces.
-- no relation between GNP and investors can be established. Some thing happening in parallel

(b) Japan and Germany spent more money on research and development in 1978 than did the United States
-- cannot be said, we dont know the actual GDP of the countries

(c) The amount of money a nation spends on research and development is directly related to the number of inventions patented in that nation.
-- i go for C

(d) Between 1964 and 1978 the United States consistently spent a larger percentage of its GNP on research and development than did Japan.
-- i can see the % dec from 3 to 2.2, so no

(e) Both West Germany and Japan will soon surpass the United States in the number of patents granted to
inventors.
-- cant be said, no info. abt the investors in Japan and Germany


what is the OA, very confused.

I would go with D

during 1978, Japan has increased the GNP to 1.6, which means prior to that they have less GNP contributed to research and development.....at the same time US has decreased the GNP to 2.2, which means prior to that they were spending more GNP....so it is safe to conclude that US was consistently spending larger % of GNP between 1964 and 1978 than Japan did, towards research and development

Based on this reasoning I went with D, also all the others seemed irrelevant

Got to be D
A ) not mentioned in the question
B ) amount is not specified only %age is given
C ) not mentioned in question
D ) true
E ) not mentioned

So it has to be D

Please update the OA as D)

This question appeared on mba.com "My GMAT practice question" and as per the mba.com, the official answer is d)

Straight away D. The stimulus says Japan increased its %GNP spent on R&D to 1.6%. So Japan spent lesser % of its GNP in 1964 than in 1978. While US spent 3% & 2.2% of its GNP in 1964 & 1978 respectively. Still higher than 1.6%. Therefore D is the answer.

US- Number of patents- dropped from 56000 in 1971 to 45000 in 1978.
- Spending on research and development, 3 percent of the gross national product (GNP) in 1964..... 2.2 percent of the GNP in 1978.

West Germany - Spending on research and development - 3.2 percent IN 1978....RISING SINCE 1964
Japan- Spending on research and development - 1.6 percent IN 1978.....RISING SINCE 1964

(a) There is direct relationship between the size of a nation’s GNP and the number of inventions it produces...NO TALK OF INVENTIONS...ONLY SPENDING ON SAME.
(b) Japan and Germany spent more money on research and development in 1978 than did the United States....ONLY %s GIVEN ...NO TALK ON ABSOLUTE NUMBERS
(c) The amount of money a nation spends on research and development is directly related to the number of inventions patented in that nation....THAT CAN'T BE REALLY INFERRED
(d) Between 1964 and 1978 the United States consistently spent a larger percentage of its GNP on research and development than did Japan....THATS TRUE.... SEE STIMULUS ABOVE.....
(e) Both West Germany and Japan will soon surpass the United States in the number of patents granted to inventors. ..ONLY %s GIVEN ...NO TALK ON ABSOLUTE NUMBERS

The number of patents granted to inventors by the United States Patent Office dropped from 56000 in 1971 to 45000 in 1978. Spending on research and development, which peaked at 3 percent of the gross national product (GNP) in 1964, was only 2.2 percent of the GNP in 1978. During this period, when United States percentage was steadily decreasing, West Germany and Japan increased the percentage of their GNP’s spent on research and development to 3.2 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

Type - inference

(A) There is direct relationship between the size of a nation’s GNP and the number of inventions it produces. - Incorrect
(B) Japan and Germany spent more money on research and development in 1978 than did the United States - Incorrect - Percentage vs numbers
(C) The amount of money a nation spends on research and development is directly related to the number of inventions patented in that nation. - Incorrect
(D) Between 1964 and 1978 the United States consistently spent a larger percentage of its GNP on research and development than did Japan. - Correct - During this period, when United States percentage was steadily decreasing, West Germany and Japan increased the percentage of their GNP’s spent on research and development to 3.2 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.
(E) Both West Germany and Japan will soon surpass the United States in the number of patents granted to inventors. - Incorrect

Answer D

At first I was confused with the word "consistently" thinking it might be a trick but after seeing "steadily" in stem I confidently went for D

+1 for D

From 1964 to 1978, Japan increased its % of GNP spending on R & D from a smaller value to 1.6%.
From 1964 to 1978, US decreased its % of GNP spending on R & D from 3% to 2.2%.
In this entire time frame, US is spending more (as a % of GNP) than Japan.

Premises:

- Patents in US dropped from 56000 in 1971 to 45000 in 1978.
- Spending on R&D, dropped from 3 percent of GNP in 1964, to 2.2 percent of the GNP in 1978.
- From 1964 to 1978, West Germany and Japan increased R&D spending to 3.2 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. (So in 1964, their spending was less than 3.2% and 1.6% respectively and they increased it to these numbers by 1978)

(a) There is direct relationship between the size of a nation’s GNP and the number of inventions it produces.
No link given between the site of GNP and number of inventions in the argument. We might think that often, this will be the case but we are asked for the conclusion supported by the argument given. Hence this will not be our answer.

(b) Japan and Germany spent more money on research and development in 1978 than did the United States
We don't know the relative GNP of the three countries and hence we cannot say who actually spent more/less money.

(c) The amount of money a nation spends on research and development is directly related to the number of inventions patented in that nation.
Again, the link is not given in the argument. All we are given is that in US, in a certain time frame, number of patents reduced and % of GNP spent on R&D reduced. There is no connection between number roof patents and money spent. Also, even if money spent had also reduced in US in that time frame, it doesn't imply that that will always be the case. A nation could spend a ton of money on R&D but be unable to come up with any inventions.

(d) Between 1964 and 1978 the United States consistently spent a larger percentage of its GNP on research and development than did Japan.
From 1964 to 1978, Japan increased its % of GNP spending on R & D from a smaller value (say 1%) to 1.6%.
From 1964 to 1978, US decreased its % of GNP spending on R & D from 3% to 2.2%.
In this entire time frame, US is spending more (as a % of GNP) than Japan. Hence, this is correct.

(e) Both West Germany and Japan will soon surpass the United States in the number of patents granted to inventors.
We have no numbers on the number of patents of both countries hence we cannot conclude this.

Answer (D)
__________

The correct answer is 'D'

A: Incorrect. Out of scope.
B: Incorrect. Out of scope. No mentioned in the passage.
C: Incorrect. Trap Answer.
D: Correct.
Between 1964 and 1978, the GNP of USA declined to 2.2, which is still greater than the percentage of Japan's GNP between the time frame.
E: Incorrect. We cannot predict this. Out of scope.

I actually believe D) is also incorrect, and this question is flawed.

In my opinion it could (at least theoretically) be possible for Japan to temporarily increasing their % above the one of the U.S. (e.g. from 1% in 1964 to 2.5% in 1970) and then going back down to 1.6% in 1978 for a total increase of 0.6% for the period 1964-1978. This is possible because they were not mentioning that Japan and Germany were steadily increasing their % during the period.

Is there anything I have missed here or could this answer actually be incorrect?
Does it sometimes happen in the GMAT that questions are flawed?

Thanks for your feedback!

Dear karishma,

If the USA's GNP was $100 and it spent 2.2% of it for R&D, then it spent $2.2

If Japan has a GNP of $1000 and it spent 1.2% of it for R&D, then it spent $12.
Going by the % is a correct way to judge a greater contribution?

can u pl enlighten?VeritasKarishma

Yes, percentage is the right way to go about comparing because it is clearly mentioned in the option that the comparison is in percentage terms.

(d) Between 1964 and 1978 the United States consistently spent a larger percentage of its GNP on research and development than did Japan.

Thanks a ton VeritasKarishma. it was an observation error that made me to ask this question. I assumed the issue is about money as I read the same in the previous option i.e C.

Thanks again.

Hello,
My honorable experts,
AaronPond, RonPurewal, MartyTargetTestPrep, jennpt, AjiteshArun, ccooley, DmitryFarber, GMATNinja, egmat, generis, VeritasKarishma, MentorTutoring
I'm going to make creativity to the author's part so that i can understand this sorta things perfectly. Could you help me to understand the real scenario of this CR, please?
IF the value 3.2 is replaced with 2.19 can we consider the choice D is still legit?
If not, is there any possibility to make the following choice as legit?
(D1) Between 1964 and 1978 the United States consistently spent a larger percentage of its GNP on research and development than did Japan and West Germany.