Medications with an unpleasant taste are generally produced only in

Question

Medications with an unpleasant taste are generally produced only in tablet, capsule, or soft-gel form. The active ingredient in medication M is a waxy substance that cannot tolerate the heat used to manufacture tablets because it has a low melting point. So, since the company developing M does not have soft-gel manufacturing technology and manufactures all its medications itself, M will most likely be produced in capsule form.

The conclusion is most strongly supported by the reasoning in the argument if which one of the following is assumed?

(A) Medication M can be produced in liquid form.
(B) Medication M has an unpleasant taste.
(C) No medication is produced in both capsule and soft-gel form.
(D) Most medications with a low melting point are produced in soft-gel form.
(E) Medications in capsule form taste less unpleasant than those in tablet or soft-gel form.

Cbirole · Answer

The conclusion for this argument is : The medication is more likely to be produced in Capsule form. I am not understanding how negating B will attack the conclusion. I chose C for this reason only. Can anyone explain why C is incorrect and B is correct ?

rajat6693 · Answer

actual problem :as company dont have soft gel manufacturing technology now they have 2 options first (make a medication in liquid form ) second(if taste is bad then in capsule or tablet form).
in conclusion author chooses second.

alexkozhura · Answer

Let's try to negate  B : Medication M has a wonderful taste. That would negate the conclusion that M will most likely be produced in capsule form. If M has a pleasant taste, it can be produced in any conceivable form: as a syrup, chewing gum, popsicle, you name it. But since it has a terrible taste (B), it has to be produced as either a tablet, a capsule or in a gel-form (see sentence 1 of the argument). Tablet and gel-form are out (see sentences 2 and 3). Therefore, it's going to be produced as a capsule.

C  is wrong. This company doesn't have a soft-gel technology, but any other company can produce medications in both soft-gel and capsule form.

zac123 · Answer

I marked C as the ans. I dont understand how B is relevant to the argument

srtas · Answer

B ... Since the discussion is all about medications with unpleasant taste and the conclusion is an available option only with medications from unpleasant taste. So if conclusion has to be true than hypothesis has to be made which is : medications with unpleasant taste!

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srtas · Answer

Since the basis of the hypothesis of this argument is all about the medications with foul taste and it doesn't talk about any other type of medicine so our concern is with medications with bad taste! And the conclusion is also amongst the options available for the same assumption hence the option b

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Harsh2111s · Answer

How C is incorrect and B is correct ?

aniket16c · Answer

The argument states that medications that are unpleasant in taste are produced in 3 forms: tablet, capsule and soft gel. ( There are also some forms such as liquid and vapour).
The author says a particular medicine cannot be produced in 2/3 forms and hence has to be produced in the remaining form - capsule form.
As mentioned previously, there are other forms such as liquid and vapours. But the author is drawing the conclusion only from the three forms. Why is that so?
May be because the author only can consider the three options. For this to be true then considering the scope of argument the medication has to be unpleasant to taste.

(A) Medication M can be produced in liquid form.
This is another conclusion. We need to find why the medication can only be produced in capsule form

(B) Medication M has an unpleasant taste.
Exactly as per our thinking.
-correct answer
Negate- medication does not have a unpleasant taste. Means it is not required to be manufactured in the 3 forms. We can manufacture it in some other form - thus proves the conclusion wrong.

(C) No medication is produced in both capsule and soft-gel form.
Okay, no medication is produced in both forms. We don't require thr medication in both forms. Even if we get a medication in one form we are happy. As mentioned previously, unless the medication is unpleasant to taste we are not restricted to the three forms.
Negation - some medications can be produced in capsule and soft-gel form.
But we don't know the criteria for manufacturing these medications. The particular medicine in discussion may be produced or may not be.

(D) Most medications with a low melting point are produced in soft-gel form.
Most - this medication can be or cannot be of these low melting category. Not strong enough

(E) Medications in capsule form taste less unpleasant than those in tablet or soft-gel form.
- irrelevant

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GMATNinja · Answer

The author concludes that “M will most likely be produced in capsule form.” How does he/she reach that conclusion?

First, he/she tells us that medications  with an upleasant taste  are generally produced in one of three ways:
   as tablets 
  as capsules 
  or in soft-gel form.

We then learn that there are some issues with manufacturing medication M in some of the ways listed above:
   Medication M cannot be made in tablet form 
  The company producing medication M manufactures all of its own medications, and doesn’t have the capaility of producing soft-gels.

From this evidence, we can say that  IF medication M is unpeasant-tasting,  the only option left is to maufacture it in capsule form.

But that’s a pretty big “if” -- nothing in the passage tells us that M is unpleasant-tasting at all! Maybe it is actually delicious, and therefore could be manufactured in a number of different forms (as a syrup, for example).

Clearly, the conclusion that M “will most likely be produced in capsule form” only follows from the evidence provided if M is unpleasant-tasting. This is exactly the information provided by (B), so (B) is the correct answer.

We are looking for an assumption that strengthens the argument’s conclusion based on the evidence presented in the passage.

The information in (C) precludes the possibility that M could be produced both as a capsule and in soft-gel form. But wait -- we already knew that M will not be produced as a soft-gel! So (C) doesn’t actually add anything to tie the conclusion (that M will most likely be produced as a capsule) to the evidence (that unpleasant medications can generally be produced as capsules, tablets, or soft-gels, and that there are major issues with producing M as a tablet or soft-gel).

Because we already knew that M would not be produced as a soft-gel, (C) is not an assumption that connects the evidence of the passage to the conclusion of the passage. Eliminate (C).

I hope that helps!

VerbalBot · Answer

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