Some psychiatric studies indicate that among distinguished artists

Question

Some psychiatric studies indicate that among distinguished artists  the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent as in  the population at large.

(A) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent as in
(B) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent than in
(C) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent when compared to
(D) manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent when compared to
(E) manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent than in

https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/12/science/an-old-idea-about-genius-wins-new-scientific-support.html

"Most of the best studies in this area have only been done in the last few years," Dr. Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in an interview. "People think this whole area of research is very squishy, very puffy and unsubstantiated. They don't realize how solid and consistent the work really is." Psychiatrists have found that among distinguished artists,  the rates of manic depression and major depression are 10 to 30 times as prevalent as in  the population at large.

raghavs · Accepted Answer

Some psychiatric studies indicate that among distinguished artists  the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent as in  the population at large.

(A) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent as in
(B) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent than in
(C) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent when compared to
(D) manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent when compared to
(E) manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent than in

E is perfectly fine 
"rates" cannot be "more prevalent than" or "as prevalent as" something else although they can be "greater" or "less" than something else. On that basis, A, B and C are out 
As for D, once again, I explained this earlier in another post; when you have a difference in relative values, you can not use "as prevalent as". Instead, you have to use "more prevalent than" 
ie X is as prevalent as Y --> ok 
ie X is two times as prevalent as Y --> no! 
ie X is two times more prevalent than Y is --> ok 
On this basis, D is out.

nverma · Answer

The rate is not prevalent..it's the disease that is prevalent.
If we want to use "rates"..than sentence should have been "The rates of X and Y are z times than those of population at large"..which is not in options. So A,B and C are out.

In D: one of the error is the wrong usage of "as X as"...."as much as" ...or ..."as prevalent as"

Only E is right.

arjsingh1976 · Answer

E uses correct idiom 'more ..than' and doesn't have 'rates of ..'

walker · Answer

E

1. 'the rates' cannot be 'prevalent'. D and E remain.
2. 'more prevalent than' is correct

hanumayamma · Answer

Among distinguished artists needs to modify the disease not rates – eliminate A, B and C 
(A) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent as in
(B) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent than in
(C) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent when compared to
(D) manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent when compared to  As requires clause – eliminate it ]
(E) manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent than in

Answer: E

raconteur · Answer

You guys are good.

E for me as well but wasn't clear as to why B was wrong. Thanks Walker for explanation!

walker · Answer

(B) the rates ... are ... more prevalent than ...

rates cannot be more prevalent. It is a logic mistake, not a grammatical one.

skovinsky · Answer

Hi!

Scanning the choices, we see our first big split right at the start - the most common place for splits. Here we have a 3-2 split between ABC and DE.

A, B and C all refer to "the rates of manic depression and major depression", whereas D and E simply refer to the depressions themselves. Is it proper to say that a rate is "more prevalent" than another rate? No, that makes no sense. A rate can be  greater than  another rate, or a phenomenon can be more prevalent than another phenomenon. Accordingly, we eliminate A, B and C.

Scanning D and E, we see different idiomatic phrases at the end (another very common place for splits). D has "as prevalent when..." - we know that "as" should followed by another "as", so D is out. A quick check of E reveals "more prevalent than", right on the money.

Choose E!

Skywalker18 · Answer

Some psychiatric studies indicate that among distinguished artists  the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent as in  the population at large.

(A) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent as in - a rate can't be "prevalent"; a phenomenon, such as manic depression, can.
(B) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent than in - same as A
(C) the rates of manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent when compared to- same as A
(D) manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times as prevalent when compared to - idiom error - As X as is needed
(E) manic depression and major depression are ten to thirteen times more prevalent than in - Correct

Answer E

Both of the below are correct 
Illiteracy is prevalent
The rate of illiteracy is high

Quant Digression  - 
 "10 to 13 times AS prevalent" is NOT the same as "10 to 13 times MORE prevalent". 
in particular, 13 times AS prevalent would be 12 times MORE prevalent; 13 times MORE prevalent, by contrast, would be 14 times AS prevalent. the same sort of thing holds for the smaller figure, too.

saurabh9gupta · Answer

daagh   GMATNinja ..

Can you post your explanation here?

Posted from my mobile device

GMATNinja · Answer

Our first decision point is between (A), (B), and (C) -- all of which describe the "rates" as prevalent -- and (D) and (E), which describe "manic depression and major depression" as prevalent. It doesn't make any sense to write that a "rate" is prevalent in a population -- there are no statistics regarding how common  rates  are! Rather, a  disease  can be prevalent. We can ditch (A), (B), and (C).

Next, in (D), we have the construction "as prevalent when..." It should be "as prevalent  as ." (Even if you don't recognize the idiom, the construction "as prevalent when" makes no logical sense.)

That leaves us with (E), which is the answer.

I hope that helps!

pk6969 · Answer

Just a doubt. What is more preferable in GMAT- 10 to 13 times more prevalent or 10 to 13times as prevalent as? Suppose in A if we won't have the rates, would that make it a better option??

Abhi13509 · Answer

Doesn't times require the usage of as_ as _ idiom.
It is mentioned in gmatclub's study tips on comparison segment.

Is it not an essential definite error ?

mSKR · Answer

I don't think so. there are as_xx_as phrases without times as well.
e.g. : as hard as possible
as far as you can 
 as long as it can be stretched

GMATNinja · Answer

I wouldn't worry too much about the distinction between these two phrasings, and I don't think there's any real reason to prefer one over the other. That's exactly why the question includes the logical error involving rates: the difference between "X times more prevalent" and "X times as prevalent as" doesn't really matter.

The takeaway: anytime you encounter two constructions that both seem clear and logical, see if you can find other issues to focus on.

I hope that helps a bit!

hadimadi · Answer

GMATNinja

Hi,

according the the Manhattan SC guide, if one shall use ' x times as...as' when relating quantities by multiplication:

Right: I am five times as old as my son
Wrong: I am five times older than my son

Also according to MSC guide, one shall use 'x times more than / less than' when referring to addition / substraction:

I am ten years older than you.

When I look at option (E), it uses 'ten times more prevelant than', meaning 10x more than something else. But this is clearly the first case I quoted from the MSC guide. Should 'ten times as prevelant as in...' be used here?

Thanks

GMATNinja · Answer

Consider an example. Imagine that Tim is 50 and his son is 10. It makes sense to say that Tim is five times as old as his son, since 10 * 5 = 50.

Could you argue that because 50 is 400%  greater  than 10, you can also write, "Tim is four times  older  than his son?" I don't love the way it hits my ear, but I'm hesitant to say it's wrong.

The same thing would apply to prevalence. If something occurs in 10% of the population, it's ten times as prevalent as something that occurs in 1% of the population.

But if something occurs in 11% of the population, it's ten times  more  prevalent than something that occurs in 1% of the population.

In other words, I'd be careful about making any generalizations here. If you see two constructions making a comparison and one is less clear than the other, well, that's one thing. But if both seem pretty clear, and they just happen to be communicating slightly different bits of info, I'd avoid using it as a decision point.

I hope that helps!

Afn24 · Answer

Comparisons and Idioms,
Rates or Price, are either higher or lower.

That's Probably why B is wrong

E might Stick.

Kratosgmat · Answer

as is used to compare clauses D is out
A B C are out because rates are not prevalent

Some psychiatric studies indicate that among distinguished artists

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Some psychiatric studies indicate that among distinguished artists

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