If there are any inspired musical performances in the concert, the aud

Question

If there are any inspired musical performances in the concert, the audience will be treated to a good show. But there will not be a good show unless there are sophisticated listeners in the audience, and to be a sophisticated listener one must understand one's musical roots.

If all the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true?

A) If there are no sophisticated listeners in the audience, then there will be no inspired musical performances in the concert.

B) No people who understand their musical roots will be in the audience if the audience will not be treated to a good show.

C) If there will be people in the audience who understand their musical roots, then at least one musical performance in the concert will be inspired.

D) The audience will be treated to a good show unless there are people in the audience who do not understand their musical roots.

E) If there are sophisticated listeners in the audience, then there will be inspired musical performances in the concert.

CrackverbalGMAT · Accepted Answer

Let us write down the premises in simplified form -

IMP (Inspired Musical Performances) --> GS (Good show)

The second statement tells us that Good shows (GS) require Sophisticated Listeners (SL) 
GS --> SL. (Note that this is the same as ~SL --> ~GS. look at the explanation for A to see how both the statements are same)

The third statement is this - SL --> UMR (Understand Musical Roots)

So, the three statements are this -
1. IMP --> GS
2. GS --> SL
3. SL --> UMR

These three premises can be combined to yield -
 IMP --> GS --> SL --> UMR. 
The correct answer will mention one of these links. Some of the inferences that can be made are  IMP --> UMR; GS --> UMR; and IMP --> SL

A - let us write down what A means. ~SL --> ~IMP. 
This can be rewritten as -   IMP --> SL  (Correct Answer)
(Let me illustrate this concept with a simple example - 
If it rains, then there will be a traffic jam. This means that -  Rains --> Traffic Jams. 
This is the same as - WHENEVER Rains occur Traffic jams  always  happen. Consequently, if Traffic Jams do not occur, that means it did not rain.
that is  ~Traffic Jams --> ~Rain ).

B - can be rewritten as this - "if the audience will not be treated to a good show, then people who UMR will not be in audience"
 ~GS --> ~UMR OR UMR --> GS

Now, I know that GS --> UMR (Does not mean that UMR --> GS)
(Refer back to the 'traffic jam' example again. We know that  Rain --> Traffic Jams.  However, this statement need not be true -  Traffic Jams --> Rains.  
Traffic Jams can also be caused by various other reasons - strikes, peak hours etc. )

C - states this -  UMR --> IMP . This reverses our inference -  IMP --> UMR . Hence, incorrect (same reason as B).

D - 1st part = GS; 2nd part = ~UMR. The 1st and 2nd parts are connected by 'unless'.
Hence, I can write this as -
~GS --> ~UMR. this is the same as UMR --> GS (same reason as B).

(for options with unless - X does not happen unless Y happens. this means that for X to happen Y must necessarily happen.
So, we can write X --> Y. Note that we have negated the statement before the 'unless'. That gives us the sufficient condition).

E - this states SL --> IMP
this reverses the inference that we drew - IMP --> SL

GMATNinja · Answer

I love the thought of going to see an inspired musical performance just now. Unfortunately, coronavirus is a jerk that prevents any such fun from happening, so... I guess let's take a look at what's going on in this question:

There are three sections to this passage, let's take a look at what we can take away from each of them in turn:

"If there are any inspired musical performances in the concert, the audience will be treated to a good show."

This tells us that if there is a single inspired musical performance, there  absolutely  will be a good show. It doesn't matter what else happens -- even if a couple gets into a raging row in the middle of the performance, it will not affect whether there is a good show. If there is an inspired performance then there  must  be a good show.

We can also say that if there is  not  a good show, then there  cannot  have been an inspired musical performance.

However, we  cannot  say that if there is a good show, there  must  have been an inspired musical performance. There might have been some incredible dancing on stage or some amazing crowdsurfing that made for a good show, even if there were no inspired performances.

"But there will not be a good show unless there are sophisticated listeners in the audience,"

This part of the passage tells us that sophisticated listeners are  required  for there to be a good show. If there are no sophisticated listeners in the audience, then there cannot be a good show.

However, the presence of sophisticated listeners does not  guarantee  a good show -- it's a necessary piece of the puzzle but isn't sufficient in its own right to make the show a good one.

"and to be a sophisticated listener one must understand one's musical roots."

This part tells us that understanding one's musical roots is  needed  to be a sophisticated listener. Someone could understand their musical roots and not be a sophisticated listener, but  everyone  who is a sophisticated listener understands their musical roots.

If the three parts of the passage are all true, which of the answer choices must be true? 
 
Sophisticated listeners are  required  for there to be a good show. If there are no sophisticated listeners in the audience, there  cannot  be a good show.

If there  cannot  be a good show, then there  must not  be any inspired musical performances -- because any inspired performances would have  guaranteed  that the audience was treated to a good show, and sadly this did not happen.

(A) looks good -- let's keep this choice for now.
 
If the show is not good, then we don't know anything about whether the audience understands their roots and/or are sophisticated listeners. This is because understanding roots/being a sophisticated listener is not enough to guarantee a good show. So, it is totally possible to not have a good show even if all or part of the audience understands their roots.

Consider the scenario where there are sophisticated listeners in the audience, so there are people who understand their musical roots in the audience, but that damn couple having an argument in the middle of the show puts off the musicians and there are no inspired musical performances. This means there will not be a good show but there are plenty of people in the audience who understand their musical roots, the show's just been ruined by that selfish couple...

This one does not have to be true, so (B) is not our answer.
 
There are a couple of issues with this answer choice. Firstly, it is not necessarily true that people who understand their musical roots are sophisticated listeners. It's possible that we could have a whole crowd of people who understand their musical roots but are not sophisticated listeners, because understanding your musical roots is necessary to be a sophisticated listener but does not guarantee that you are one.

Even if we allow all the people in the audience who understand their musical roots to be sophisticated listeners, there is still a problem with (C). Having sophisticated listeners in the audience is  necessary  for there to be a good show but it does not  make  one of the musicians have an inspired performance. There might be an inspired performance at the concert but that performance will not have been caused by the presence of people in the audience who understand their musical roots.

The two events in (C) could happen at the same concert but they don't have to happen, so cross (C) out.
 
This answer choice is super slippery. It suggests that if the entire audience understands their musical roots, then there will be a good show.

(D) has similar problems to (C) -- just because someone understands their musical roots, it does not mean they are a sophisticated listener and you can extend this out to cover the entire audience. Everyone could understand their musical roots and it's still possible that there are no sophisticated listeners in the audience.

Secondly, even if there are some sophisticated listeners in the audience, which isn't guaranteed, this is still not going to  guarantee  a good show. We  need  sophisticated listeners in the audience for there to be a good show but their presence doesn't  make  the show into a good one.

(D) is not necessarily true, so we can eliminate this answer choice.
 
If there sophisticated listeners in the audience then it is possible there will be a good show. As we've seen, sophisticated listeners are  needed  for there to be a good show but they don't  ensure  it so this answer choice is on shaky ground but let's take it a little further.

Even if we allow for there to be a good show with the sophisticated listeners in the audience, this DOES NOT mean there will be an inspired musical performance. The crowdsurfing could have been incredible, the tech guys could have done an amazing job with the pyrotechnics and the light show, or the dancing might have been the best the audience has ever seen -- we don't need an inspired performance for there to have been a good show.

We know an inspired musical performance  guarantees  us a good show but this doesn't work the other way -- just because there is a good show, it doesn't mean there is an inspired performance.

This is another answer choice where both events could happen but they don't have to happen together. So we should cross out (E).

The only answer choice we haven't crossed out is (A), which is the correct answer.

I hope that helps!

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The correct answer choice is (A).

The stimulus is a fact set containing three conditional statements. The statements can be linked together to create one long chain: IMP = inspired musical performances, GS = audience treated to a good show, SL = sophisticated listeners in the audience, UMR = understand one’s musical roots. 1. First sentence: IMP—>GS. 2. Second sentence, first part: GS —> SL. 3. Second sentence, second part: SL —> MR. 4. Chain of all statements: IMP—>GS—>SL—>UMR. With a long conditional chain and a Must Be True question, the correct answer will likely be a contrapositive of the entire chain or of a portion of the chain. Wrong answers will likely be Mistaken Reversals or Negations of the entire chain or of a portion of the chain. Keep this in mind and attack the problem!

Answer choice (A): This correct answer is a contrapositive of the chain created by the first two statements above. The diagram for this answer choice is: ~SL—>~IMP.

Answer choice (B): This answer choice is a Mistaken Negation of the chain created by the second and third statements above. The diagram for this answer choice is: ~GS—>~UMR. Make sure you do not miss the “if” in the middle of the answer choice.

Answer choice (C): This answer choice is a Mistaken Reversal of the chain of all statements. The diagram for this answer choice is: UMR—>IMP.

Answer choice (D): This answer choice is a Mistaken Negation of the chain created by the second and third statements above. This answer choice is identical to answer choice (B), and the diagram for this answer choice is: ~GS—>~UMR.

Answer choice (E): This answer choice is a Mistaken Reversal of the chain created by the first two statements above. The diagram for this answer choice is: SL—>IMP

aniteshgmat1101 · Answer

Inspired Musical Performance (IMP) => Good Show (GS)
NO sophisticated Listner (SL)=> NO GS
Understand Musical Root (UMR)=> SL

A) - CORRECT 
From statement 2, NO SL => NO GS and negating statement 1 NO GS => NO IMP.

Rest all other option is failing to have proper chain.

Nightmare007 · Answer

IMO A ; IMP -> GS; GS -> Slistn ; Slistn -> UnderM.Roots. Here only A says -> No Slistn => No GS which is contrapositive of 2nd statement.

anairamitch1804 · Answer

There are three conditional relationships from the stimulus.

1. IMP --> GS
2. GS --> SL
3. SL --> UMR

You can use the transitive property and combine these statements to yield many different possible inferences

1 + 2 = IMP --> SL
2 + 3 = GS --> UMR
1 + 2 + 3 = IMP --> UMR

or you could have the contrapositive of any of these statements.

(A) ~SL --> ~IMP is the correct answer and is the contrapositive of the inference from the first two statements.
(B) ~GS --> ~UMR is the negation of the inference of the second and third statements.
(C) UMR --> IMP is the reversal of the inference of all three statements.
(D) ~GS --> ~UMR is the negation of the inference of the second and third statement.
(E) SL --> IMP is the reversal of the first statement.

For statements involving "unless"

_______ , unless ________.

What comes after unless is the necessary condition. Everything else gets negated and thrown into the sufficient condition.

kannu44 · Answer

But there will not be a good show unless there are sophisticated listeners in the audience

A) If there are no sophisticated listeners in the audience, then there will be no inspired musical performances in the concert

IMO A

Madhavi1990 · Answer

I think A - D is very close but I am not convinced:I took 4 minutes on this, I don't think that's wise either.

If there are any inspired musical performances in the concert, the audience will be treated to a good show. But there will not be a good show unless there are sophisticated listeners in the audience, and to be a sophisticated listener one must understand one's musical roots.

If all the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true?

A) If there are no sophisticated listeners in the audience, then there will be no inspired musical performances in the concert. - Possible - if the listeners do not feel its a 'good' show; there will be no inspired performances. Also the argument hinges on the concert quality and not listeners.

B) No people who understand their musical roots will be in the audience if the audience will not be treated to a good show.
No, we cannot comment on the thoughts of the sophisticated listener

D) The audience will be treated to a good show unless there are people in the audience who do not understand their musical roots.
- This is not what the argument says - it says 1) inspired performance = good show 2) good show = sophisticated listeners who have musical roots. But, that doesn't mean people who don't have musical sense make the performance less 'good' --> this is what D is saying: audience can have a good show only if people who have musical roots attend it. NO - it says good inspirational performance = good show and THEN the listeners. Also, I took a personal example - if I take my tone deaf friend (sorry

) with me to a complex sounding classical concert; she may not like it, but the performance could be inspired and there maybe other less tone deaf audience who attended a 'good show'

I felt there is a really subtle difference in the interpretation of D and A; and A is closer

Expert opinions?

) with me to a complex sounding classical concert; she may not like it, but the performance could be inspired and there maybe other less tone deaf audience who attended a 'good show' I felt there is a really subtle difference in the interpretation of D and A; and A is closer Expert opinions?

tanikamehra · Answer

GMATNinja  please explain this question

carouselambra · Answer

anairamitch1804

Could you please tell me the fault in my line of thought with option A.
If there are no sophisticated listeners in the audience, then there will be no inspired musical performances in the concert.

This could also mean that having sophisticated listeners becomes a pre-condition to having a good show and subsequently an inspired performance. But it is possible that the audience can have zero sophisticated listeners, yet have a good show. The relationship b/w inspired performance and good show seems sneaky to me.

VerbalBot · Answer

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If there are any inspired musical performances in the concert, the aud

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