by: MartaPinto
38 mins
by: MartaPinto
44 mins
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Difficulty:
95%
(hard)
Question Stats:
47% (02:19) correct
53%
(02:28)
wrong
based on 827
sessions
History
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Not Attempted Yet
All of the best comedians have had unhappy childhoods. Yet, many people who have had happy childhoods are good comedians, and some good comedians who have had miserably unhappy childhoods are happy adults.
If the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following CANNOT be true?
(A) The proportion of good comedians who had unhappy childhoods is greater than the proportion of the best comedians who did.
(B) Some good comedians have had unhappy childhoods and are unhappy adults.
(C) Most of the best comedians are happy adults.
(D) More good comedians have had unhappy childhoods than have had happy childhoods.
(E) The proportion of comedians who are happy adults is higher than the proportions who are unhappy adults.
If the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following CANNOT be true?
(A) The proportion of good comedians who had unhappy childhoods is greater than the proportion of the best comedians who did.
(B) Some good comedians have had unhappy childhoods and are unhappy adults.
(C) Most of the best comedians are happy adults.
(D) More good comedians have had unhappy childhoods than have had happy childhoods.
(E) The proportion of comedians who are happy adults is higher than the proportions who are unhappy adults.
We are asked for the statement with CANNOT be true, i.e. which is definitely false.
Consider A first.
What is the proportion of the best comedians who had unhappy childhoods? Right from the first statement, it is 1 (or 100%). The next line then tells us that some good comedians also had unhappy childhoods. Therefore it follows that not all good comedians had unhappy childhoods. Therefore this proportion is certainly less than 1. This is therefore the right option.
(A) it is.
_________________
Consider A first.
What is the proportion of the best comedians who had unhappy childhoods? Right from the first statement, it is 1 (or 100%). The next line then tells us that some good comedians also had unhappy childhoods. Therefore it follows that not all good comedians had unhappy childhoods. Therefore this proportion is certainly less than 1. This is therefore the right option.
(A) it is.
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p2bhokie
Hello p2bhokie
We have:
Fact #1: All of the best comedians have had unhappy childhoods.
Fact #2: Many people who have had happy childhoods are good comedians,
Fact #3: Some good comedians who have had miserably unhappy childhoods are happy adults.
If the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following CANNOT be true?
(A) The proportion of good comedians who had unhappy childhoods is greater than the proportion of the best comedians who did.
Correct.
Fact #1 says "ALL the best comedians have had unhappy childhoods" ==> The proportion = 100% (because of "all").
Fact #2 says "Many comedians have had happy childhoods" --> There are still some comedians have had unhappy childhoods. Two sets combined make up 100% ==> The sub set MUST be < 100%
Thus, A CAN'T be correct.
(B) Some good comedians have had unhappy childhoods and are unhappy adults.
Wrong. Yes, B can be true. Fact #3 says "some good comedians who have had unhappy childhoods are happy adults" ==> Absolutely, there are still some comedians who have had unhappy childhoods are unhappy adults.
(C) Most of the best comedians are happy adults.
Wrong. Yes, C can be true. It is possible that a group of best comedians is the sub set of a group of good comedians. Deduce from fact #3, C can be true.
(D) More good comedians have had unhappy childhoods than have had happy childhoods.
Wrong. From fact #2, because we don't know how many "some" is, we can assume that we have 100 good comedians, 60 have had unhappy childhoods, 40 have had happy childhoods. D can be true.
(E) The proportion of comedians who are happy adults is higher than the proportions who are unhappy adults.
Wrong. From fact #3, because we don't know how many "some" is, we can assume that we have 100 comedians, 60 are happy adults, 40 are unhappy adults. Clearly, E can be true.
Hope it helps.
General Discussion
Can a Verbal expert please come for the rescue....This question is confusing...plus I am not sure how could the correct ans be A? IMO it should be 'D'...please help!
auradediligodo
Joined: 31 Jan 2019
Last visit: 18 Nov 2021
Posts: 356
Location: Switzerland
Concentration: General Management
GPA: 3.9
Posts: 356
All of the best comedians have had unhappy childhoods. Yet, many people who have had happy childhoods are good comedians, and some good comedians who have had miserably unhappy childhoods are happy adults.
If the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following CANNOT be true?
Cannot be true question
Pre-thinking
Let's evaluate the options
POE:
(A) The proportion of good comedians who had unhappy childhoods is greater than the proportion of the best comedians who did.
As per the argument we know that many good comedians had an unhappy childhood (<100%) and that all best comedians had an unhappy childhood (100%). This statement cannot be true as it suggests the opposite
(B) Some good comedians have had unhappy childhoods and are unhappy adults.
Could be
(C) Most of the best comedians are happy adults.
Could be
(D) More good comedians have had unhappy childhoods than have had happy childhoods.
Could be
(E) The proportion of comedians who are happy adults is higher than the proportions who are unhappy adults.
Could be
If the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following CANNOT be true?
Cannot be true question
Pre-thinking
Let's evaluate the options
POE:
(A) The proportion of good comedians who had unhappy childhoods is greater than the proportion of the best comedians who did.
As per the argument we know that many good comedians had an unhappy childhood (<100%) and that all best comedians had an unhappy childhood (100%). This statement cannot be true as it suggests the opposite
(B) Some good comedians have had unhappy childhoods and are unhappy adults.
Could be
(C) Most of the best comedians are happy adults.
Could be
(D) More good comedians have had unhappy childhoods than have had happy childhoods.
Could be
(E) The proportion of comedians who are happy adults is higher than the proportions who are unhappy adults.
Could be
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