The graph above illustrates trends in the prevalence of current and

Question

https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?mode=view&id=59416 The graph above illustrates trends in the prevalence of current and former cigarette smoking among adults aged 18 and older, categorized by gender. According to the information in the chart, the most accurate statement regarding the adult smoker population from 1965 to 2015 is that the percentage of GRAPH_1_PLACEHOLDER had GRAPH_2_PLACEHOLDER over the fifty-year period. 1.jpg

Bunuel · Answer

Official Solution:

Let's evaluate the change in the four categories given in the first drop-down.
 
• The percentage of current female smokers decreased from approximately 35% to 15%, which is more than twice. Since this option is not available in the second drop-down, we eliminate it.
 
• The percentage of former male smokers increased from approximately 20% to 25%, which is a 25% increase. Since this option is not available in the second drop-down, we eliminate it.
 
• The percentage of females who never smoked increased from approximately 100% - (35% + 8%) = 57% to 100% - (13% + 20%) = 67%, which is about a 20% increase. Since this option is not available in the second drop-down, we eliminate it.
 
• The percentage of males who never smoked increased from approximately 100% - (52% + 20%) = 28% to 100% - (18% + 25%) = 57%, which is approximately doubling. Since this option is available in the second drop-down, this is the correct answer.

Correct answer:

Dropdown 1:  "males who never smoked"

Dropdown 2:  "approximately doubled"

Bismuth83 · Answer

1. Looking at the question, we have to  pick a certain demographic and associate its change with one of the answer choices . Let's consider the given demographics:

2.  Current female smokers.  Went from 35% to 15%.   This doesn't match any of the answer choices.

3.  Former male smokers.  Went from 20% to 25%.   This doesn't match any of the answer choices.

4.  Females who never smoked.  Went from 100% - 35% - 10% = 55% to 100% - 15% - 20% = 65%.   This doesn't match any of the answer choices.

5.  Males who never smoked.  Went from 100% - 50% - 20% = 30% to 100% - 20% - 25% = 55%.   This matches "approximately doubled"   because  \frac{55\%}{30\%} \approx 1.83 , which is close to 2.

6. Our answer will be:   D1 - males who never smoked and D2 - approximately doubled  .

mangoman175 · Answer

Hey, if number of current female smokers reduced from 35% to 15%, why couldn't the answer be, "Current female smokers"; "Decreased by approximately 20%".

Bunuel · Answer

Your mistake is in how you're interpreting the percentage decrease. The  number of current female smokers  dropped from  35% to 15% , which means the decrease is  20 percentage points , not a  20% decrease .

To find the percentage decrease correctly:

(35 - 15)/35 * 100 =  about 57% decrease , not 20%.

Since "Decreased by approximately 20%" is not an accurate description, that option cannot be the correct answer.

SwethaReddyL · Answer

Hi  Bunuel , how are you considering the part - females who never smoke? it is not explicitly given, that's why you are considering it as 100%? Please clear this part for me!

Bunuel · Answer

We are given two groups:  the percentage of current female smokers  and  the percentage of former female smokers . What group completes this to 100%? What other group could there be?

It's the group of people who never smoked, and its percentage would simply be:
 
Never smoked = 100% - (current smokers + former smokers).

Since the graph only provides data for  current  and  former  smokers, the remaining percentage must represent those who  never smoked .

egmat · Answer

Hi SwethaReddyL,

Great question! You're absolutely right that 'never smoked' is NOT explicitly shown on the graph. But here's the   key insight  : we can derive it.

The graph shows two categories for each gender: 'current smokers' and 'former smokers.' Since every adult must fall into one of three buckets — current smoker, former smoker, or never smoked — we can calculate:

Never Smoked % =  100%  - Current Smokers% - Former Smokers%

Let's do this for MALES: 
- In  1965 : Current male smokers were roughly  52% , former male smokers roughly  23% . So males who never smoked =  100%  -  52%  -  23%  = approximately  25% .
- In  2015 : Current male smokers dropped to roughly  17% , former male smokers were about  33% . So males who never smoked =  100%  -  17%  -  33%  = approximately  50% .
-  Change:  from  25%  to  50%  — that's approximately  DOUBLED .  This matches the correct answer perfectly.

Now let's check FEMALES (your question): 
- In  1965 : Current female smokers were roughly  34% , former female smokers roughly  8% . So females who never smoked =  100%  -  34%  -  8%  = approximately  58% .
- In  2015 : Current female smokers dropped to roughly  14% , former female smokers roughly  20% . So females who never smoked =  100%  -  14%  -  20%  = approximately  66% .
-  Change:  from  58%  to  66%  — that's only a modest increase,  not doubling or tripling . It doesn't match any of the Dropdown  2  options cleanly.

So yes, you're correct that we use  100%  as the total and subtract the categories shown on the graph. The reason 'females who never smoked' doesn't work is that the change ( 58%  to  66% ) doesn't fit any of the D 2  options well.  Only  'males who never smoked' pairs neatly with 'approximately doubled' ( 25%  to  50% ).

Answer: males who never smoked, approximately doubled

The graph above illustrates trends in the prevalence of current and

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