Hi cesium4u.

I'm glad to help.

First of all, I will generalize the stimulus as follows:
X is good
However, X is no longer available
Y that is simulated X is necessary

Assumption: Y should be at least as good as X.
Negation to confirm: If X is much better than Y, the conclusion fails.

APPLY TO THE QUESTION:
Fact: Most creative engineers get their best and most useful ideas only after doodling and jotting down what turn out to be outlandish ideas.
Fact: Now that many engineers do their work with computers instead of on paper,
Fact: Doodling is becoming much less common,
Conclusion: It’s necessary to create computer programs for engineering work included simulated notepads that would allow engineers to suspend their “serious” work on the computer, type up outlandish ideas, and then quickly return to their original work.

ANALYZE EACH ANSWER:

(A) Most creative engineers who work with paper and pencil spend about as much time doodling as they spend on what they consider serious work.
Wrong. Out of scope. We do not compare “time” here.

(B) Simulated notepads would not be used by engineers for any purpose other than typing up outlandish ideas.
Wrong. Out of scope. We just talk about the usefulness of simulated notepads for creating outlandish ideas. Nothing about “other purposes”. The fact that simulated notepads can be used for other purposes is not the assumption of the main conclusion “simulated notepads can help engineer to create outlandish ideas”.

(C) No engineers who work with computers keep paper and pencil near their computers in order to doodle and jot down ideas.
Wrong. TEMPTING. But C has two problems:
(1) The fact clearly says that: “Doodling is becoming much less common”. So even when the engineers have paper and pencil, they will not spend time to doodle on paper because they are doing their “serious” work on the computer.
(2) Read the conclusion carefully: “…… computer programs would allow engineers to suspend their “serious” work on the computer, type up outlandish ideas, and then quickly return to their original work”.
The conclusion emphasizes that simulate notepads can help engineers who are doing “serious work” on the computer, so they can type and return quickly to their original work. In fact, paper and pencil can help engineers to jot down ideas, but the engineers can't return quickly to their "serious works". Thus, focus on each word in the conclusion is really important.

(D) The physical act of working on paper is not essential in providing engineers with the benefits that can be gained by doodling.
Correct. This assumption states that simulated notepads can definitely replace papers.

(E) Most of the outlandish ideas engineers jot down while doodling are later incorporated into projects that have practical applications.
Wrong. Out of scope. Nothing about “practical applications”.

Hope it’s clear.

I think its D.
If some physical work is essential to get benefits out of the doodling...then the nodepad stuff is not enough.

D is the answer, read on to learn a technique to solve this question type.

the main method used to answer ASSUMPTION questions, is called the negation method. in this question type the answer choices are all assumptions but you have to choose the one that renders the main conclusion of the stem correct from a logical perspective. from logical stand point, viewing this question type, the assumption is a necessery condition which will go with the main conclusion. so in a scense the main conclusion is the sufficiant condition and the assumption is the necessery condition. as every one knows diagraming logic:
sufficiant condition ----> necessery condition / this statment is equal to:
NO necessery condition---->NO sufficiant condition
so if we negate the necessery condition the sufficiant condition will not happen.
so in this question type if we negate the CORRECT assumption[the correct answer choice] it should lead to disqualification of the main conclusion.

in this question D says "The physical act of working on paper is not essential in providing engineers with the benefits that can be gained by doodling." so if we negat this we will get the statement:The physical act of working on paper is essential in providing engineers with the benefits that can be gained by doodling. so if the actual act of working on papper is essential then the expert's idea of using computer to type the ideas will be disquallified completely to remedy the problem they are facing. therefore for the main conclusion by the expert to stand valid the expert necesserly needs to assume that the "The physical act of working on paper is not essential in providing engineers with the benefits that can be gained by doodling.

but use the negation technique after you actually eliminated the obvious wrong choices and deciding b/w more tricky choices[to save time].

Studies show that the most creative engineers get their best and most useful ideas only after doodling and jotting down what turn out to be outlandish ideas. Now that many engineers do their work with computers instead of on paper, however, doodling is becoming much less common, and some experts fear that the result will be fewer creative and useful engineering ideas. These experts argue that this undesirable consequence would be avoided if computer programs for engineering work included simulated notepads that would allow engineers to suspend their “serious” work on the computer, type up outlandish ideas, and then quickly return to their original work.
If engineers have simulated notepads that replace paper doodling the undesirable consequence (loss of creative thinking) can be avoided.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the experts’ reasoning depends?

(A) Most creative engineers who work with paper and pencil spend about as much time doodling as they spend on what they consider serious work. Out of scope - argument is about simulated notepads, and not about time

(B) Simulated notepads would not be used by engineers for any purpose other than typing up outlandish ideas.
Whether or not the simulated notepads are used for purposes in addition to typing up outlandish ideas is out of scope
(C) No engineers who work with computers keep paper and pencil near their computers in order to doodle and jot down ideas. The question is whether or not the simulated pad can be a substitute for paper and pencil. The presence or absence of paper and pencil near the computer is not relevant.

(D) The physical act of working on paper is not essential in providing engineers with the benefits that can be gained by doodling.

(E) Most of the outlandish ideas engineers jot down while doodling are later incorporated into projects that have practical applications.What becomes of the outlandish ideas is irrelevant

Can someone explain why using negation will not render C the right answer?

Negation of C:
Engineers who work with computers keep paper and pencil near their computers in order to doodle and jot down ideas.
This itself destroys the conclusion.
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Hey colorblind - good question!
Your negation isn't accurate - the negation of no engineers is some engineers - that is, it could be even one or two engineers. This negation is not enough - if only one engineer has a notepad, this does not weaken the claim.
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Studies show that the most creative engineers get their best and most useful ideas only after doodling and jotting down what turn out to be outlandish ideas. Now that many engineers do their work with computers instead of on paper, however, doodling is becoming much less common, and some experts fear that the result will be fewer creative and useful engineering ideas. These experts argue that this undesirable consequence would be avoided if computer programs for engineering work included simulated notepads that would allow engineers to suspend their “serious” work on the computer, type up outlandish ideas, and then quickly return to their original work.

Creative -> Only after doodling and jotting out
Switching from working on paper to computer -> doodling less common -> fewer creative and useful ideas
(C) That will not be the case: If Simulated notepads provided -> more creative and useful ideas

What is the GAP here? There are two rogue information in the (P) and the (C): Paper Notepads and Simulated Notepads.
What is the relationship between Simulated Notepads and paper notepads?



Which one of the following is an assumption on which the experts’ reasoning depends?


The comparison is irrelevant. How does it explain that doodling on simulated notepads will work? (A) is out.

This might be true but does not necessarily has to be true. The engineers can use the notepads for whatever purposes they want. As long as using it -> more creative idea. (B) is out

Because none of them has paper and pencil, they cannot doodle or jot down ideas. The only choice that they have is to use the simulated notepads; however, whether the simulated notepads are going to increase their creative ideas is not justified. The absent of a plan does not make the other plan any better.

This eliminate the possibility that without paper -> no creativity. This gives a light to the simulated notepads which are likely to work because the act of doodling on paper is not the reason to their creativity. Perhaps they themselves are the key to it. Hang on to this.

The reasoning is only concerned whether the simulated notepads are going to work. Its practical applications are irrelevant.

(D) is the only thing left. (D) is our answer.
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Good Qn. People fall for C but "no engineers" is not necessary. What if 1 or 2 engineers (out of 100) do? Would the argument fall apart? No.

The experts say that we should provide engineers with simulated notepads on the computer so they can virtually "doodle", thus promoting their creativity. This argument assumes that the engineers are not keeping note pads next to their computers. It also assumes that simulated doodling is just as good as real physical doodling.

Note that the question stem is looking for a necessary assumption. We can use the Assumption Negation technique to test the answer choices.

Answer choice (A): The relative share of time spent on doodling does not really make any difference to the value of doodling, or specifically the value of computer doodling. This answer choice is irrelevant.

Answer choice (B): Try the Assumption Negation technique: What if simulated notepads would be used by engineers for other purposes? That does not destroy the validity of the experts' recommendation. So this is not a necessary assumption, and thus is not the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (C): What if some engineers keep paper and pencils near their desk? This slightly weakens the experts' recommendation, but does not completely destroy it. If some engineers are not keeping paper and pencil for doodling, then giving them virtual computer doodling would be beneficial. So this assumption is not necessary; the answer choice is not correct.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Again, using the Assumption Negation technique: What if physical doodling is essential to achieve the creative benefits? In that case, then the experts' recommendation does not have the intended goal. The assumption is necessary, and this is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E): What if most of the ideas from doodling are not later used in practical applications? Still, even if a few ideas from doodling are valuable, then doodling could still be a good idea. In any case, this would be a critique of doodling in general, not of the experts' proposal for virtual doodling. This assumption is not necessary, so the answer choice is not the best.

Essentially why C is not the answer -
(C) No engineers who work with computers keep paper and pencil near their computers in order to doodle and jot down ideas.
Negated C: Some (not no engineers) engineers who work with computers keep paper and pencil near their computers in order to doodle and jot down ideas.
The argument still stands with the negated C statement. So it cannot be an assumption.

Just have a look at the flow of the question.

It starts emphasizing 'doodling' and 'jotting down' followed by a number of facts and ends stating about 'jotting down' (type the ideas).
BUT how do i get the ideas from ? It's the doodling you missed out.

Option C says- why don't you keep paper and pencil while you are working ? Ahh ! The problem is how do i work then.

Option D says- you don't need a paper to doodle. Great !

In case you are interested to know the fact- doodling (reminds me of drawing random sketches sitting at the last bench in school) actually helps you to focus and be creative.
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