Last year, more copies of accounting software programs were sold than

Question

Last year, more copies of accounting software programs were sold than in any previous year. For the first time ever, most of the copies sold were not sold to accountants but rather to individuals doing their own taxes or planning their own family budgets. However, the most-purchased copy of accounting software was a program designed for accountants performing corporate audits.

Which of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

(A) Last year more accounting software was sold to corporations than in any previous year.

(B) At least some non-accountants purchased the most-purchased copy of software last year.

(C) Last year there were more copies of accounting software sold to non-accountants than in any previous year.

(D) More non-accountants purchased accounting software last year than in any previous year.

(E) Last year fewer copies of accounting software were purchased by accountants than in the previous year.

sahilvijay · Accepted Answer

rajatkataria14@gmail.com  -Official Explanation from Veritas.

The answer to this Inference problem is (C). Remember - in an Inference question the correct answer must be true based on the premises, and (C) can be proven by the facts. You know that 1) the total number of copies of accounting software was its greatest ever and that 2) the percentage that non-accountants purchased was its greatest ever (the first time over 50%). So non-accountants purchased their greatest-ever share of the greatest-ever total, meaning that they must have purchased their greatest number of copies of accounting software ever.

Among the incorrect answer choices:

(A) very well might be true, but cannot be proven. What if the growth in accounting software was entirely due to non-accountants (perhaps this was the first-ever year that a program like TurboTax was available, and so the non-accountant software surged while several accountants went out of business and didn't purchase anything)?

(B) also could be true, but you certainly cannot prove it. What if the most-sold software was a must-buy for any corporation but had no appeal to individuals?

(D) is close, but note the precision in language there: all the premises are about the number of copies sold, whereas (D) draws a conclusion about the number of purchasers. What if the number of purchasers stayed the same or even decreased, but each purchaser bought multiple different copies (maybe TurboTax came with a "add on Quicken for a dollar" promotion and almost everyone who purchased one piece of software last year bought two this year?).

And (E) of course does not have to be true as there is no proof for it anywhere. You know that the highest total number of copies of accounting software was sold so it is difficult to believe that fewer were sold to non-accountants, and that's the only real evidence you have to get close to this conclusion.

mvictor · Answer

reason why I eliminated B
at least some - some is 1-100%. 
we know that more non-accountants purchased software design for accountants. 
it is obvious that much more non-accountants purchased the software than did the accountants. Therefore, the "some" word makes this statement incorrect.
C, on the contrary, states that more non-accountants purchased the software this year than in any other previous years.
C it is for me.

rajatkataria14@gmail.com · Answer

Hii, I agree to that at least some - some is 1-100%. But some can be equal to most(>50%). From the last line of the passage it is clear that some Non-accountants purchased the software

sahilvijay · Answer

rajatkataria14@gmail.com

ALL 100
Some 1-100
Some are not 0-99
Most 51-100
Most are not 0-49
None 0

kindly see above in bold lines -> This question is must be true -> so you can not use CAN BE .....
Your answer to this type MUST BE ALWAYS TRUE ->>>Therefore COULD BE TRUE , MAY BE TRUE are all traps in this type of question.

mvictor · Answer

it is clear that most of the purchases are from non-accountants. That's why B is out, and C is the answer.

HG0815 · Answer

OA is C
The passage said 'For the first time ever, most of the copies sold were not sold to accountants but rather to individuals doing their own taxes or planning their own family budgets.'
From this sentence, it is possible to infer that  individuals buy more copies than accounts.
 It is hard to infer, however, A,D,E.  Because there is no information about amount.
 B is possible but C is the best.

Bunuel · Answer

VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:

The answer to this Inference problem is (C). Remember - in an Inference question the correct answer must be true based on the premises, and (C) can be proven by the facts. You know that 1) the total number of copies of accounting software was its greatest ever and that 2) the percentage that non-accountants purchased was its greatest ever (the first time over 50%). So non-accountants purchased their greatest-ever share of the greatest-ever total, meaning that they must have purchased their greatest number of copies of accounting software ever.

Among the incorrect answer choices:

(A) very well might be true, but cannot be proven. What if the growth in accounting software was entirely due to non-accountants (perhaps this was the first-ever year that a program like TurboTax was available, and so the non-accountant software surged while several accountants went out of business and didn't purchase anything)?

(B) also could be true, but you certainly cannot prove it. What if the most-sold software was a must-buy for any corporation but had no appeal to individuals?

(D) is close, but note the precision in language there: all the premises are about the number of copies sold, whereas (D) draws a conclusion about the number of purchasers. What if the number of purchasers stayed the same or even decreased, but each purchaser bought multiple different copies (maybe TurboTax came with a "add on Quicken for a dollar" promotion and almost everyone who purchased one piece of software last year bought two this year?).

And (E) of course does not have to be true as there is no proof for it anywhere. You know that the highest total number of copies of accounting software was sold so it is difficult to believe that fewer were sold to non-accountants, and that's the only real evidence you have to get close to this conclusion.

Angelia11 · Answer

I think here option A and D worked better. Last year more accounting software was sold to corporations than in any previous year. And More non-accountants purchased accounting software last year than in any previous year. And it is true to become hassle free users with non accounting background and no professional accounting degree subscribed more accounting software than previous years.

PedroBodnar · Answer

Not sure how these rules work. Are you saying that when more than 51% of the population did something, that the use of the word SOME is improper and therefore the use of the word MOST would be the correct answer?

Because from my perspective, if MOST of the non-accountant purchased the most-purchased copy of software last year, then it is also true that SOME of the non-accountant purchased the most-purchased copy.

Please analyze my numbers below:

We have 55% of copies being sold for non-accountants
We have 45% of copies being sold for accountants
Say we sold 1000 copies, being 550 of the most-popular and 450 of other softwares.

1st scenario: all the 45% of the accountants buy exactly 450 copies of the most-purchased software.
If 55% of copies were sold to non-accountants, than they must have purchased at least 100 copies of the most-popular, so it is true that some of them purchased the most popular.
In this scenario, SOME of the non-accountants purchased the most-popular (100/550)

2nd scenario: some of the accountants purchased copies other than the most-popular.
Then, it is possible that MOST of the non-accountants purchased the most-popular copies.

But again, since I believe that if MOST is true, than SOME is also true (the opposite is not true), B should be a correct answer.

Does this make sense?

Nightmare007 · Answer

I selected B in haste.

But after re-reading it three times i got to know where i was wrong.

Lets say this year they sold 100 copies.
so last year they sold < 100

FOR THE FIRST TIME
Non-Accountants brought > 50 copies
Accountants brought 40 copies.

However, as stated its the first time.
Last year more accountant copies sold.
So > 50.
Hence non-accountants brought <50

Now it clearly states that C is answer. abhimahna. I got a doubt, Do these kind of questions pop up in official GMAT ?

abhimahna · Answer

hey Nightmare007 , Yes, you may get such questions on the actual exam.

Rohitbedi · Answer

a) Last year more accounting software was sold to corporations than in any previous year.
 Nothing about corporations is mentioned here 
 b) At least some non-accountants purchased the most-purchased copy of software last year.
 Again, relation between what non-accountants purchased is not deducible from the paragraph 
 c) Last year there were more copies of accounting software sold to non-accountants than in any previous year.
 Correct. Unless more copies were sold to Non-accountants, the record sale would not be happening. 
 d) More non-accountants purchased accounting software last year than in any previous year.
 Nothing about the number of non-accountants is mentioned in the para 
 e) Last year fewer copies of accounting software were purchased by accountants than in the previous year.
 what accountants purchased, besides special software for audits, has not been addressed in the para

Raihanuddin · Answer

d. More non-accountants purchased accounting software last year than in any previous year. ---- be very careful about modifier.   More   accounting software purchased by non-accountants,  not more non-accountants  purchased accounting software.

dhruvasv5 · Answer

I complete agree with what  PedroBodnar  has said. If you go by numbers, there will at least 1 non accountant who would have purchased the most-purchased copy last year. So B is correct.
C- is definitely correct.

VeritasPrepBrian · Answer

An important consideration with Pedro's numbers - the "most purchased piece of software" doesn't have to have been purchased by "most people." So if you have 1000 purchases, and 550 by non-accountants and 450 by accountants, to continue his number, you *could* have:

450 bought the most popular one ("accounting for professional accountants ONLY"), and these were all professional accountants

200 bought the second most ("a non-accountant's accounting companion")

150 bought the third most popular ("accounting for nonaccountants")

120 bought the fourth

80 bought the fifth

And here no non-accountant bought the most popular one. The key here is that the "most-purchased software" doesn't have to have accounted for more than 50% of copies sold, so you can't prove that any non-accountants bought it.

abhishekujjawal · Answer

It seems there is some problem with the question as, if 51% + copies = most purchased copy, is there in the sold list and 51%+ copies of them are purchased by individuals how will you not choose the most purchased copy because otherwise only 49%- will be available to you.

Last year, more copies of accounting software programs were sold than

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