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655-705 (Hard)|   Weaken|      
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"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance 07 Aug 2018, 16:26
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Hello, Could anyone please explain the question statement in detail?
Thanks
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"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance 13 Sep 2018, 09:03
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we can use a bit of statistics to ace the argument

let's evaluate the durability of refrigerators 60 years ago based on the option B
considering 100 refrigerators , with a mean of 15 years for durability
say 50 refrigerators as per option B function for 1 year and then break down
the others 50 refrigerators will function for a period of 29 years before breaking down
50x1+50x29=100x15=1500

this weakens the argument in that not all the refrigerators do break down after 15 years of operation !
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"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance 18 Dec 2020, 22:25
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Hello VeritasKarishma MartyTargetTestPrep

I learn a lot from your posts and hoping to get some help here as well.

It makes complete sense to me that B is the best out of the lot. But I had one concern in B, if I were a person living 60 years ago (in 1960) and I were aware of the fact that average durability of refrigerators is 15 years, I would assume that around the 15th year, my refrigerator is near to the end of its useful life. I am obviously not aware (or am I?) of the fact that the average is low due to the ones that broke down within 1 year and that is not the case with my refrigerator. It seems like in 1960, it wasn't a well known fact that the refrigerators that break down within one year are the ones driving the avg durability so low. (This fact could have been known but it seems like it wasn't as it took 60 years to improve this.)

Thanks in advance! :)
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"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance 19 Dec 2020, 23:38
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It makes complete sense to me that B is the best out of the lot. But I had one concern in B, if I were a person living 60 years ago (in 1960) and I were aware of the fact that average durability of refrigerators is 15 years, I would assume that around the 15th year, my refrigerator is near to the end of its useful life. I am obviously not aware (or am I?) of the fact that the average is low due to the ones that broke down within 1 year and that is not the case with my refrigerator. It seems like in 1960, it wasn't a well known fact that the refrigerators that break down within one year are the ones driving the avg durability so low. (This fact could have been known but it seems like it wasn't as it took 60 years to improve this.)

Thanks in advance! :)
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Realistically, who is aware of what the average useful life of a refrigerator is? Are you? Who knows that statistic? I certainly don't.

If anything, you would notice that many refrigerators that people have are 30 or 40 years old. So, you there's a good chance you would expect yours to last that long as well, even if the average was 15 years.
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"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance 20 Dec 2020, 00:12
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Brian123
It makes complete sense to me that B is the best out of the lot. But I had one concern in B, if I were a person living 60 years ago (in 1960) and I were aware of the fact that average durability of refrigerators is 15 years, I would assume that around the 15th year, my refrigerator is near to the end of its useful life. I am obviously not aware (or am I?) of the fact that the average is low due to the ones that broke down within 1 year and that is not the case with my refrigerator. It seems like in 1960, it wasn't a well known fact that the refrigerators that break down within one year are the ones driving the avg durability so low. (This fact could have been known but it seems like it wasn't as it took 60 years to improve this.)

Thanks in advance! :)
Realistically, who is aware of what the average useful life of a refrigerator is? Are you? Who knows that statistic? I certainly don't.

If anything, you would notice that many refrigerators that people have are 30 or 40 years old. So, you there's a good chance you would expect yours to last that long as well, even if the average was 15 years.
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MartyTargetTestPrep Thank you for the response!
I agree that realistically, People wouldn't be aware of a stat like that. But isn't this question kind of based around the fact that people are aware of the average? Otherwise the idea of people thinking about their refrigerator wouldn't pop in their head. And it is even more unlikely for me to know how old the refrigerators of other people are and impractical to assume that mine would last the same as yours (This info is also not given or hinted at in the question)

Thanks again, I appreciate your help! :)
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"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance 20 Dec 2020, 07:31
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It makes complete sense to me that B is the best out of the lot. But I had one concern in B, if I were a person living 60 years ago (in 1960) and I were aware of the fact that average durability of refrigerators is 15 years, I would assume that around the 15th year, my refrigerator is near to the end of its useful life. I am obviously not aware (or am I?) of the fact that the average is low due to the ones that broke down within 1 year and that is not the case with my refrigerator. It seems like in 1960, it wasn't a well known fact that the refrigerators that break down within one year are the ones driving the avg durability so low. (This fact could have been known but it seems like it wasn't as it took 60 years to improve this.)

Thanks in advance! :)
Realistically, who is aware of what the average useful life of a refrigerator is? Are you? Who knows that statistic? I certainly don't.

If anything, you would notice that many refrigerators that people have are 30 or 40 years old. So, you there's a good chance you would expect yours to last that long as well, even if the average was 15 years.

MartyTargetTestPrep Thank you for the response!
I agree that realistically, People wouldn't be aware of a stat like that. But isn't this question kind of based around the fact that people are aware of the average? Otherwise the idea of people thinking about their refrigerator wouldn't pop in their head. And it is even more unlikely for me to know how old the refrigerators of other people are and impractical to assume that mine would last the same as yours (This info is also not given or hinted at in the question)

Thanks again, I appreciate your help! :)
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The question is not about how long people expected their refrigerators to last, as if they were setting odds when they bought their refrigerators. It's about when they considered refrigerators to be nearing the end of their operational life. You would not use an average for that.

Think about it.

You certainly would not consider your refrigerator nearing the end of it's operational life during the first year, but maybe during that first year, BOOM, the thing breaks down.

OK, but for most people that wasn't the case. Refrigerators generally lasted for decades. So, I think you'd get the sense along the lines of, "Man, my neighbor had to get a new refrigerator after six months, but generally they last much longer from what I seen." So, after 15 years, you wouldn't be considering yours done. Why would you consider it nearing the end of its operational life?

The evidence you had would not point to that conclusion.

Your refrigerator would be working fine. Furthermore, maybe you would not go around asking your neighbors how old their refrigerators are, but anything you happened to notice would tend to indicate that generally refrigerators last way longer than 15 years, because that was the case.
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"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance 21 Dec 2020, 01:12
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Hello VeritasKarishma MartyTargetTestPrep

I learn a lot from your posts and hoping to get some help here as well.

It makes complete sense to me that B is the best out of the lot. But I had one concern in B, if I were a person living 60 years ago (in 1960) and I were aware of the fact that average durability of refrigerators is 15 years, I would assume that around the 15th year, my refrigerator is near to the end of its useful life. I am obviously not aware (or am I?) of the fact that the average is low due to the ones that broke down within 1 year and that is not the case with my refrigerator. It seems like in 1960, it wasn't a well known fact that the refrigerators that break down within one year are the ones driving the avg durability so low. (This fact could have been known but it seems like it wasn't as it took 60 years to improve this.)

Thanks in advance! :)
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Brian123

I cannot evaluate my argument based on the options. I need to evaluate the argument independently and then evaluate each option according to what it adds to the scenario.

Evaluate this:

"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance remains functional without breaking down. Sixty years ago, average refrigerator durability was 15 years, whereas now refrigerators operate continuously for more than 40 years on average. Thus, at that time, people must have considered refrigerators to be nearing the end of their operational life at an age that we now consider will leave many more working years.

60 yrs ago, avg life was 15 yrs.
Now it is 40 yrs.
Conclusion: At that time, people would have thought at 15 that my refrigerator is at the end of its life. Now they think at 15 that many more years are left.
(the author says that this is what they must have thought (based on general experience) at that time and this is what they must think now)

That is what my argument says.

Now weaken it.


B: Most of the improvements in durability in the past sixty years have been achieved through cutting down on the number of refrigerators that break down in the first year of ownership.

The durability hasn't changed much actually. Now refrigerators don't break down in 1st year that is why the avg has gone up. Well then can we say that at that time people would have thought at 15 that my refrigerator is about to die? No. If in those days also they lasted 40 years, they wouldn't have though that it is about to die. Hence it weakens our conclusion.

The stats are being given to you now by the author. Whether people knew the deceptive stats or not, we don't know and don't care. If normally refrigerators lasted 15 yrs, they would assume it will last 15 yrs. If normally they last 40 years, they will assume it will last 40 years.
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"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance 28 Jan 2026, 21:29
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