Last year the worldwide paper industry used over twice as much fresh

OA is A

This is such a good example of a CR question that requires a little bit of Math.

I thought about this question in terms of proportions:

Current proportion- PULP:RECYCLE = 2:1

Future Proportion- PULP:RECYCLE = 1:1

One additional caveat-the amount of pulp used in the future is more than the current amount used. In summary, The PULP/RECYCLE proportion will be different in the future, and the ACTUAL amount of pulp will increase too.

So the argument presents 3 conditions that need to be satisfied.

1. The current proportion is 2:1
2. The future proportion will be 1:1
3. The future amount of Pulp will be greater than the Current amount of Pulp.

Next I plugged in numbers

Condition 1

PULP=100
RECYCLE=50

100/50= 2/1


Condition 2 and 3

Future

101/101= 1/1

101>100

This satisfies all the conditions presented in the argument.

Clearly Answer Choice A is the Answer

[quote="jgomey"]Last year the worldwide paper industry used over twice as much fresh pulp (pulp made directly from raw plant fibers) as recycled pulp (pulp made from wastepaper). A paper industry analyst has projected that by 2010 the industry will use at least as much recycled pulp annually as it does fresh pulp, while using a greater quantity of fresh pulp than it did last year.

If the information above is correct and the analyst's projections prove to be accurate, which of the following projections must also be accurate.

A. In 2010 the paper industry will use at least twice as much recycled pulp as it did last year

B. In 2010 the paper industry will use at least twice as much total pulp as it did last year.

C. In 2010 the paper industry will produce more paper from a given amount of pulp than it did last year. OFS

D. As compared with last year, in 2010 the paper industry will make more paper that contains only recycled pulp.
. OFS. Strong word "only"
E. As compared with last year, in 2010 the paper industry will make less paper that contains only fresh pulp.

OFS. Strong word "only".

TO choose between A & B. i assume no.'s as mentioned in above post and got A as IMO

Hi mahendru

You can eliminate D and E quite quickly because they're out of scope.

D. As compared with last year, in 2010 the paper industry will make more paper that contains only recycled pulp.
E. As compared with last year, in 2010 the paper industry will make less paper that contains only fresh pulp.

The argument only talks about how much fresh pulp and recycled pulp are used to produce paper in general. The argument does not say anything about types of paper such as 100% fresh pulp paper or 50-50 fresh-recycled paper, etc.

Thus, D and E are out.

Hope it helps.

Choices C, D, and E talk about the production of paper, whereas the argument only talks about how paper was made.
We either quickly eliminate those choices, or take a closer look at them later since Choices A and B talk of the premises, directly.

I think with these types of Inference Qs, creating quick variables can be helpful.
I'll tack onto what Nocilis did back in ancient times:

Last Year: FP > 2x RP > x
2010: RP is > or = FP, FP >2x ----------> RP > 2x

2010 RP is at least 2 times greater than Last Year's RP.

Hence, Choice A.

easy one, Should be a DS problem :D

Last year: fresh - 100kg, recycle - 50; Total = 150

2010: fresh(101) = recycle, fresh > fresh of last year; total = 202

If the information above is correct and the analyst's projections prove to be accurate, which of the following projections must also be accurate.

A. In 2010 the paper industry will use at least twice as much recycled pulp as it did last year --- this is 50 vs 101 recycled. correct.

B. In 2010 the paper industry will use at least twice as much total pulp as it did last year.--- 150 vs 202 ; wrong

C. In 2010 the paper industry will produce more paper from a given amount of pulp than it did last year. --- i think these two should be equal unless some technological development.

D. As compared with last year, in 2010 the paper industry will make more paper that contains only recycled pulp. --- both will be equal.

E. As compared with last year, in 2010 the paper industry will make less paper that contains only fresh pulp. --- wrong.

The problem says "they will use at least as much recycled pulp annually as it does fresh pulp"
Assuming, recycled pulp = 100 units, fresh pulp = 200 units.
If the same amount of pulp is required to produce paper.
Recycled pulp = 150 units, fresh pulp = 150 units.
So in this case A is not right.
We are assuming either of the two things
1. The quantity of fresh pulp used doesn't reduce as the quantity of recycled pump increases.
2. The quantity of total pulp required increases over the years.
Is it right to do so ?

I am not sure if the observation is correct or not, but how can we assume the current year as 2010?? Can anybody please explain this fact?

Last year the worldwide paper industry used over twice as much fresh pulp (pulp made directly from raw plant fibers) as recycled pulp (pulp made from wastepaper). A paper industry analyst has projected that by 2010 the industry will use at least as much recycled pulp annually as it does fresh pulp, while using a greater quantity of fresh pulp than it did last year.

If the information above is correct and the analyst's projections prove to be accurate, which of the following projections must also be accurate.

A. In 2010 the paper industry will use at least twice as much recycled pulp as it did last year

B. In 2010 the paper industry will use at least twice as much total pulp as it did last year.

C. In 2010 the paper industry will produce more paper from a given amount of pulp than it did last year. OFS

D. As compared with last year, in 2010 the paper industry will make more paper that contains only recycled pulp.
. OFS. Strong word "only"
E. As compared with last year, in 2010 the paper industry will make less paper that contains only fresh pulp.

OFS. Strong word "only".

TO choose between A & B. i assume no.'s as mentioned in above post and got A as IMO

Currently R= x & FP=2x
In 2010 RP=FP=y
Given FP will not decrease as y(FP in 2010)>=2x (FP now)

Therefore, y (RP in 2010)>= 2x(Twice RP in current yr)

Hence A

The problem with D and E is that we can't deduce how much pulp actually goes into making the paper. We just know that more pulp is used.

MartyTargetTestPrep

Actually, even if we assume that all of the pulp used is made into paper, (D) and (E) are not supported, because we are not given any information on composition of paper made. So, we have no idea how much paper is made or even whether any paper is made with either ONLY fresh pulp or ONLY recycled pulp.

How do you know that "last year" is 2009?

Hi Experts I have a doubt GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo AjiteshArun VeritasKarishma

I correctly narrowed it down to option A, BUT there is something about option A that I want clarity on. (i know i am not supposed to end sentences with a preposition - sentence correction mode active )

The first line of the paragraph says "Last year the worldwide paper industry used over twice as much fresh pulp (pulp made directly from raw plant fibers) as recycled pulp (pulp made from wastepaper)".... doesn't over twice mean more than double?

let us say that last year, 10 units of recycled pulp were used. So going by "over twice" part, greater than (not greater than or equal to) 20 units of fresh pulp must have been used. This means that in 2010, the amount of fresh pulp, as per the stimulus, will be "greater than [greater than 20]", and thus the amount of recycled pulp for 2010 will be "greater than or equal to [greater than 20]"

Now option A says " In 2010 the paper industry will use at least twice as much recycled pulp as it did last year". By definition we know that at least basically means greater than or equal to. So this option is saying that if 10 units of recycled pulp was used the last year, then in 2010 20 units or more will be used. BUT with the information we have in the stimulus and as per my understanding of the statement/phrase - over twice as much, what option A is saying is not entirely true as shown with the numbers above in my previous paragraph. The amount of recycled fresh pulp that will be used in 2010 should be just "greater than", not "greater than or equal to [greater than 20-amount of fresh pulp used last year]". So what I am trying to say is that the "greater than part" is absolutely true without a doubt as per all the information that we have, but if I am right about my understand of the phrase "over twice" is correct, then saying that the amount of recycled pulp will be at least twice won't be correct as the "equal to" part of "greater than or equal to" hasn't been taken care of, even though the "greater than" part is absolutely fine.

so what am I missing ? is it the "as much" part of "more than twice as much" that makes the phrase "more than twice as much" mean greater than or equal to twice?

Hi goaltop30mba,

1. Last year: F + R
1a. F ≥ 2R {"last year... twice as much fresh pulp (F) as recycled pulp (R)"}

2. By 2010: Fa + Ra
2a. Ra ≥ Fa {"by 2010 the industry will use at least as much recycled pulp (Ra) annually as it does fresh pulp (Fa)"}
2b. Fa > F {"by 2010... while using a greater quantity of fresh pulp (Fa) than it did last year (F)"}

3. The minimum value of F is 2R (from 1a). This means that Fa > 2R (because Fa > F).

4. The minimum value of Ra is Fa (from 2a). This means that Ra > 2R.

Now for your question. Let's say that you made a prediction "last year", that Ra will be more than or equal to 2R by 2010. Your prediction would be correct if:
5a. Ra = 2R
or
5b. Ra > 2R

The actual outcome is, of course, 5b. But that doesn't mean that your prediction was not accurate. The only "fail" for your prediction would be Ra < 2R.

Also, don't worry about ending sentences with a preposition.

Think about it - What if option (A) had said: In 2010 the paper industry will use more recycled pulp than it did last year.

Would you have a problem? No. Because it would be correct. We know that in 2010 the industry will use more than twice the amount it did last year.
"more than twice' is just a more specific case of "more". So amount of recycled pulp used will be more and that will stand true.

Similar is the case with "at least twice". "More than twice" is a specific case of "at least twice". If the amount used is actually more than twice, it sure is at least twice. So (A) is valid.

- Paper industry used twice as much fresh pulp as recycled pulp (fresh pulp: 2x / recycled pulp: x)
- Projected in 2010 that the industry will use as much recycled pulp as it does fresh pulp, while using a greater quantity of fresh pulp.

We can infer that recycled pulp will at least double (from x to 2x) since we’re told fresh pulp will increase from the its quantity last year.

A – correct.
B – We don’t know this. We know recycled pulp will double, but whether the paper industry will use at least twice as much total pulp depends on the amount of fresh pulp used.
C – Production from a given amount of pulp isn’t mentioned.
D – Production from a given amount of pulp isn’t mentioned.
E - Production from a given amount of pulp isn’t mentioned.

Such a good question! Test knowledge of quant too. Just plug in numbers to easily eliminate between A and B. Rest options are easy to eliminate.