The exhibition of ancient Egyptian funerary art — imposing statues, in

Question

The exhibition of ancient Egyptian funerary art — imposing statues, intricately painted coffins, and numerous accoutrements, drew hundreds of people each day,  equivalent to the number of visitors to  last year’s Impressionist show.

A. equivalent to the number of visitors to

B. the equivalent of those that visited

C. equal to those who visited

D. as many as the visitation to

E. as many as visited

daagh · Accepted Answer

The answer is indeed E. Because equal or equivalent means more than just numbers. It has more to do with probably quality, uncountable abstractions than countable numbers.

In a similar OG question, let’s look at OG’s reasoning (OG 10 SC Q 132 )

According to a study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, companies in the United States are providing job training and general education for nearly eight million people about  equivalent to the enrollment of  the nation's four-year colleges and universities,
(A) equivalent to the enrollment of
(B) the equivalent of those enrolled in
(C) equal to those who are enrolled in
(D) as many as the enrollment of
(E) as many as are enrolled in

OG's OE

The phrases equivalent to in A, the equivalent of in B, and equal to in C have too broad a range of meanings to be used precisely here: that is, they can suggest more than merely numerical equality. Also, as quantitative expressions, equivalent and equal often modify nouns referring to uncountable things, as in "an equivalent amount of resistance" or "a volume of water equal to Lake Michigan." To establish numerical comparability between groups with countable members, the phrase as many as is preferable. Choice D, however, uses this phrase improperly in comparing eight million people to enrollment, not to other people. The comparison in E, the best choice, Is logical because people is understood as the subject of are enrolled.

HTH

icandy · Answer

Comparing number to number, Should have equal. Equivalent is wrong. A & B out

C equates numbers to people. Wrong

D equates numbers to the visitation? Holy Molly. Out

E remains and is the best of the lot.

STVerm · Answer

E is the correct choice 

Its not correct to use "equivalent to" when you deal with numbers.

x2suresh · Answer

agree with E. exhibition..drew hundreds of people , as many as visted last year's impressionist show. C is wrong hundreds of people <>(can' be equal to) people who visted.

x2suresh · Answer

Please under line the problem and also make sure that answer choices are typed correctly.

exhibition drew..100's<Number> of people ..

B, C --> equating "Number of people" with "people" --> This is illogical
D -> visitation to --> awkward
between A and E

E sounds clear and concise

silasaaa2 · Answer

(A) equivalent to the number of visitors to  hundreds plural vs the number singular so wrong 
(B) the equivalent of those that visited   equivalent of those unidiomatic 
(C) equal to those who visited  hold 
(D) as many as the visitation to  awkward 
(E) as many as visited  hold

between C and E I chose as many as is more concise than choice C

so I chose E

sashikanth · Answer

Hi ,
Good Question. It is the question on comparison. Let me first simplify the question. We can strike of prepositional phrase 'of ancient Egyptian funerary art — imposing statues, intricately painted coffins, and numerous accoutrements'

The exhibition drew hundreds of people each day, equivalent to the number of visitors to  last year’s Impressionist show.

A is wrongly comparing exhibition to the number of people visiting last year impressionist show
B and C are out for similar reason

Here we need to compare the number of people  visiting(drawn by)  the exhibition with the number of people  visiting  the last year impressionist show.

'as' should be the preposition that should be used to compare two actions and 'like' should be used to compare two nouns. D and E correctly uses 'as' but in D visitation is wrongly used instead of visited. E corrects the same.

Hope this helps. Thank You

mourinhogmat1 · Answer

I agree with the explanation for equivalent to because when we say X is equivalent to Y, it means they are not exactly same units but are still comparable. 
With regards, to equal to I think the problem here is that it can take up several meanings. 
e.g. John is equal to Mike in rank (Here we are not saying they are both the same but their ranks are equal)
e.g. Michael Johnson equaled Tom Meyers record in the 100m dash. (So, here he equaled his time) 
So, equal to can mean different things and the context is important here.

The very first question which pops up when we use equal to is "in terms of what"? Here the answer should be numbers. But there is no reference to numbers. So, thats the reason we should rule it out.

With respect to D : I don't think there is a comparison error here because 8 million can be compared those who are enrolled in but when you say "THE ENROLLMENT OF" its awkward usage. And also enrollment of has a different meaning and changes it completely. Enrollement of here could mean that people studying in these universities and colleges are enrolling in something else but we need to talk about people enrolling in these universities and colleges.

Hope this clears up some doubts.

Marcab · Answer

In the above quoted, green modifies the idea present in the blue.
Green says:"equivalent to the number of visitors to last year’s Impressionist show."
Blue says : "hundreds of people each day".
This is incorrect.
"Hundreds of people each day" is NOT EQUIVALENT to the NUMBER of visitors.

The correct logic is to compare the # of people/day in one show with the # of people/day in the other show.

In B, "hundreds of people each day" are being made EQUIVALENT TO THOSE present at the other show. It compares the RATE with the people. (Rate= hundreds of people each day). Also uses "that" to address people instead of "who".

In C, again the same issue. "Hundreds of people each day" is being compared to the people .

In D, compares "hundreds of people each day" to the "visitaion". Illogical

E is the one that is clear with the intended meaning, and is logical.

Hope that helps.

daagh · Answer

IMO, GMAT considers the use of the word equal or equivalent as one that cannot used just to compare a single factor or phenomenon. You may use them only to compare all - round personality, involving a gamut of features. That is the reason the first three choices are rejected as not using proper diction. Between D and E, of course, there may not be a problem to discard D for its wordiness and clumsiness. E is the proper chocie. .

If I remember correct, the given example is a similar one that you may find in GMAT. 
According to a study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, companies in the United States are providing job training and general education for nearly eight million people, about  equivalent to the enrollment of  the nation's four-year colleges and universities.

(A) equivalent to the enrollment of 
(B) the equivalent of those enrolled in 
(C) equal to those who are enrolled in 
(D) as many as the enrollment of 
(E) as many as are enrolled in

E is the OA here also.

mmagyar · Answer

This is bad question. The problem with it is that it attempts to draw a comparison between two nouns, but an adverb intervenes in the middle. This is a no-no on the GMAT.

Modifiers cannot jump over things they don't modify (even a ", -ing" is actually modifying the entire preceding clause). In this case, we see:

Quote:

The exhibition .... drew hundreds of people each day, MODIFIER.

The modifier is intended to draw a comparison between the number of people drawn by the exhibition and the number of people who visited the impressionist show last year. However, the frequency modifier "each day" is not part of the noun phrase involving the people; instead, it describes how frequently the exhibition "drew" people. Thus, we have:

Quote:

The exhibition .... drew (verb) hundreds of people (object) each day (verb modifier), MODIFIER

The modifier in the underlined part cannot jump over the adverbial phrase "each day" and describe the noun phrase "hundreds of people", so it must instead describe something closer. Therefore, the following comparison would actually attach to the noun "day" in the adverbial phrase. In other words, the structure forces the meaning to be that the number of days on which the exhibition drew is equivalent to the number of people that attended the impressionist show last year. This is grammatically correct, but the meaning is butchered (days compared to people).

See this-lesson-covers-a-portion-of-gmat-pill-s-sc-framework-154137.html if you want more information.

It appears that the author of this question failed in his or her attempt to mimic an official GMAT question and the rule it tests. Only rely on questions from GMAT Prep (tests, exam pack, or question packs), GMAT OG's (any version, including verbal), or GMAT Paper Tests. (Even those have problems sometimes, but it happens much less frequently.)

PiyushK · Answer

The exhibition of ancient Egyptian funerary art — imposing statues, intricately painted coffins, and numerous accoutrements, drew hundreds of people each day, equivalent to the number of visitors to last year’s Impressionist show.

Question's construction is not fine, ending hyphen is required instead of comma.

The exhibition of ancient Egyptian funerary art — imposing statues, intricately painted coffins, and numerous accoutrements — drew hundreds of people each day as many as (people ellipse) visited last year’s Impressionist show.

Pasharma1 · Answer

‘Equivalent’ implies more than just numerical comparison, so A and B are out.

C is comparing numbers to people, so out.

D is comparing numbers to the visitation… which is even more inaccurate.

E is the only one that makes sense.

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