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Economic modeling programs used to predict the future trends of financial markets are notoriously unreliable, primarily because of the enormous number of variables that affect the behavior of investors. No computer, even the most powerful and sophisticated supercomputer, is capable of processing the huge amounts of data necessary for even very short-term forecasts. Because there is no known technology that can make a computer fast enough to perform all of the necessary computations, computer models will never be accurate enough to predict market behavior reliably.

Linkage to conclusion : Because there is no known technology that can make a computer fast enough to perform all of the necessary computations, computer models will never be accurate enough to predict market behavior reliably.

The argument makes a prediction that computer models won't be accurate to predict market behaviors.

The given fact to support the conclusion is no known technology that can make a computer fast enough to perform all of the necessary computations,

and No computer, even the most powerful and sophisticated supercomputer, is capable of processing the huge amounts of data necessary for even very short-term forecasts.

The assumption to arrive at the conclusion is :

1) Only technology can empower the computers/supercomputers to process the huge amounts of data.

2) There is no existing technology in the present /future that can help supercomputers

Only choice B is correct here in light of this assumption.
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Thank you to all who shared your thoughts on this question! Souvik101990 has shared our official explanation, but answer choice A received so much attention that I wanted to comment on it specifically. Information about computers doubling in speed in the past cannot be presented as evidence that they will continue to do so in the future. We cannot say whether or not they are able to continue doubling in speed without making assumptions of our own.

In this argument, much of the evidence is about the inability of a single computer, even a supercomputer, to process the vast number of computations needed. As was mentioned in an earlier post, we take the premises as a given, which in this case is that one computer cannot do the job using known technology. Still, to weaken the prediction that these models will never be accurate, we need to find something beyond a single computer using current technology that will make this possible. That is why answer choice B is correct, offering a combination of computers instead of a single computer to tackle the job.

As you continue on your GMAT journey, I encourage you to revisit the questions from this RATT race in a week or two. Attempting questions a second time can be a powerful tool to reinforce what you've studied.

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Quote:
Economic modeling programs used to predict the future trends of financial markets are notoriously unreliable, primarily because of the enormous number of variables that affect the behavior of investors.No computer, even the most powerful and sophisticated supercomputer, is capable of processing the huge amounts of data necessary for even very short-term forecasts. Because there is no known technology that can make a computer fast enough to perform all of the necessary computations, computer models will never be accurate enough to predict market behavior reliably.

The main point of argument is highlighted above..

Since no Computer can process such huge amount of data = Accurate prediction is impossible.

Now lets check the options -

(A) If we take for granted that over the past five years processing capacity of computers has doubled and still we are not able to perform all of the necessary computations then it strengthens our argument.

(B) If the task is subdivided among multiple computers to perform extremely large numbers of computations then there is a possibility of perform all of the necessary computations , this weakens the argument in red above.

(C) Something that has been carrying on for years is not always perfect.

(D) Moves from the concept of using computers to complexity theory to economists using accurate models for predicting market crashes.

(E) Off topic , discusses use of supercomputers for formulation of national monetary policies.


Hence IMHO (B) is the best answer...
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Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

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