Henry: An average American car driver drives a thousand miles per

Question

Henry: An average American car driver drives a thousand miles per month. If all American car drivers drove only five miles less daily, their monthly mileage would reduce by 15 percent. Five miles is ten thousand steps, the amount of daily walking recommended by doctors for good health. Therefore, if the government could persuade car drivers to drive five miles less daily and walk that distance instead, the total transport-related carbon emissions in the United States would reduce by 15 percent.

Bill: Cars are responsible for 30 percent of all transport-related carbon emissions in the United States.

Bill's response to Henry proceeds by

A refuting an assumption on which Henry's argument relies
B discrediting Henry's argument by giving of erroneous information
C arguing that the benefit of Henry's hypothetical measure might also be achieved in another way
D citing seemingly irrefutable evidence that contradicts one of the stated premises on which Henry's argument depends
E providing additional information in support of Henry's argument

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

The Henry States that using car less will reduce total transport related carbon by 15 percent, whereas Bill States Car is responsible for 30% of such carbon emission in states.

Bill's response to Henry proceeds by

A. Refuting An Assumption On Which Henry's Argument Relies.(Yes Bill is discarding the information given by henry in his statement by increasing the total percent by 15%) (Correct)

B. discrediting Henry's argument by giving of erroneous information. (We don't know whether the information is right or wrong) (Incorrect)

C. arguing that the benefit of Henry's hypothetical measure might also be achieved in another way. (Bill hadn't suggested any measure in regards to the given problem) (Incorrect)

D. citing seemingly irrefutable evidence that contradicts one of the stated premises on which Henry's argument depends. (Henry's argument is not depended on what amount of carbon emission is reduced by using car less, but if the people start reducing car less and walk instead, the emission is the after result) (Incorrect)

E. providing additional information in support of Henry's argument (Bill is negating Henry's statement not supporting that) (Incorrect)

Posted from my mobile device

ChuHoaiNam2505 · Answer

What is the Henry assumption?
Henry stated that If monthly mileage was reduced by 15%, the carbon emissions would reduce by 15%. In other words, he assumed that 1% reduction in mileage would lead to 1% reduction in carbon emissions.
Bill said that Cars are responsible for 30 percent of all transport-related carbon emissions in the United States. he means that there is no way 1% reduction in mileage would lead to 1% reduction in carbon emissions. Hence, Bill attacked Henry assumption.

Kanika3agg · Answer

D is wrong because Bill didnt provide an evidence which refutes his premises. Premises are all fine but he has drawn a wrong conclusion so his assumption is wrong and that is what Bill is attacking.

SameerM38 · Answer

to understand this argument, we need to use some quant.

Henry: if govt. encourage car drivers to walk, that would reduce TR carbon emission by 15% i.e. if we imagine total TR carbon emission is 100 units it would be reduced to 85 units.

Bill: Cars are responsible for 30% of total TR carbon emissions. i.e 
if total TR carbon emission is 100 units cars are emitting 30 units so 15% reduction mentioned by Henry in reality account 4.5%(15% of 30 units)

Perfection · Answer

I understand that this is not the case for the test, but it seems to me that it is almost impossible to convince drivers to drive 5 miles less. I can’t imagine a way to force drivers to do this.

CEdward · Answer

Can someone explain this one further? I don't see A.

siddhantvarma · Answer

Argument construction

Henry tells us that:

An average American car driver drives a thousand miles per month.

So, if all American car drivers drove only five miles less daily, their monthly mileage would reduce by 15 per cent (5 × 30 = 150 miles = 15% of 1000 miles).   
 Five miles is ten thousand steps, the amount of daily walking doctors recommend for good health. 
 Therefore,

if the government can persuade car drivers to drive five miles less daily and walk that distance instead, 
 the total transport-related carbon emissions in the United States would be reduced by 15 per cent.    
Bill responds to Henry by saying that cars are responsible for only 30 per cent of all transport-related carbon emissions in the United States.

Understanding how the argument proceeds

Let's dissect the argument.

When we strip Henry's argument to its essence, it is this:

'Reducing average monthly mileage of American car owners by 15 per cent would reduce the total transport-related carbon emissions in the United States by 15 per cent.'

So, Henry is assuming that only car owners are responsible for transport-related carbon emissions in the United States. In his mind, the formula for transport-related carbon emissions is:

(Total transport-related carbon emissions per month) = (Average carbon emissions made per car mile) × (Average monthly miles driven per driver) × (Number of drivers)

Note that the right-hand side of this equation would give 'total  car -related carbon emissions per month'. Henry assumes that this number equals 'total  transport -related carbon emissions per month'.

By pointing out that total  car -related carbon emissions are, in fact, only 30 per cent of all transport-related carbon emissions in the United States, Bill is telling Henry that his assumption was mistaken. Due to this mistake, Henry's argument is incorrect.

Let's analyze each option one by one.

Answer choices explanation

This is  correct . It accords with the discussion done in the argument analysis above. 
 This is  incorrect . We have no reason to decide that the information given by Bill is erroneous. 
 This is  incorrect . The benefit of Henry's hypothetical measure is a 15 per cent reduction in the total transport-related carbon emissions in the United States. Bill suggests no other way to achieve this benefit. 
 This is  incorrect . The stated premises on which Henry's argument depends are:

If all American car drivers drove only five miles less daily, their monthly mileage would reduce by 15 per cent. 
 Five miles is ten thousand steps to walk.

(The argument also makes use of an unstated premise (that is, an assumption): all transport-related carbon emissions in the United States are made by cars.)

Bill's response does not contradict either of the two stated premises listed above.

Further, Bill cites evidence that contradicts Henry's claim, not a premise.   
 This is  incorrect . As discussed in the analysis section above, Bill's response does not support Henry's argument.

AvinashSh · Answer

Can someone explain how A is correct. 
Henry's logic is : Reduction in Mileage by 15 % will lead to reduction in TOTAL TRANSPORT EMISSIONS BY 15%. (We cant say 1 mileage reduction = 1 total transport unit emission reduction because we dont know the actual quantities, neither do we know if there's a uniform linear correlation > not mentioned)
 
So if we assume : 100 Units of emissions from total transport : Henry is saying that it will reduce by 15 units to 85. (Note that henry's percentage is on Total transport emissions)

Now bill says : Cars are responsible for 30 percent of total transport emission. That means since our total trasnport emission is 100 : Cars are responsible for 30 units of it.

So if we assimilate everything : 
15 units of emissions would reduce meaning total would become 85 
While 30 units of emissions originally come from Cars : that would JUST mean

Reducing monthly mileage by 15% > would lead to a 50% reduction (15 % of 100 units of TTE/30% of 100 units of TTE >> 15/30) in emissions contributed by Cars.

Hence neither of the statements refute each other > instead if anything Bill contributes to the discussion by providing an additional data point

Its incorrect to assume that 1 mileage reduction = 1 emission unit reduction just on the basis of 1 data point

Answer should be E.

KarishmaB · Answer

Focus on this: Henry: Premise: If all American car drivers drove only five miles less daily, their monthly mileage would reduce by 15 percent. Conclusion: if the government could persuade car drivers to drive five miles less daily and walk that distance instead, the total transport-related carbon emissions in the United States would reduce by 15 percent. Henry tells us that if each car driver drove 5 miles less every day, the monthly mileage will reduce by 15% (so their monthly carbon emissions will reduce by 15%) But Henry concludes that the total transport-related carbon emissions in the United States would reduce by 15 percent. Is that accurate? Transport-related carbon emissions in the United States would consist of car emissions, truck emissions, aircraft emissions etc. If each car driver drives 5 miles less, the emissions due to cars will reduce by 15%. But all transport related emissions in US will not reduce by 15%. Cars are a small part of the total Henry erroneously assumes that "Car related emissions in US = All transport related emissions in US" Bill: Cars are responsible for 30 percent of all transport-related carbon emissions in the United States. Hence Bill rectifies Henry's assumption. Answer (A) Here is the discussion on assumptions: https://youtu.be/O0ROJfljRLU

kumarvibhuti630 · Answer

Conclusion : if the government could persuade car drivers to drive five miles less daily and walk that distance instead, the total transport-related carbon emissions in the United States would reduce by 15 percent

A . Correct, as Bill is  rejecting  one of the assumption on which argument depends. For this answer, only keyword "refuting" can be considered for while, as it is a strong keyword and can be put on hold.
 B .  Discrediting , wrong
 C . Does not  align  to the conclusion
 D .  Tempting  but not correct. There is no premise that Bill is contradicting, he is only attacking the conclusion by providing some evidence.
 E . He is not  supporting  Henry

Henry: An average American car driver drives a thousand miles per

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Henry: An average American car driver drives a thousand miles per

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards