A survey recently revealed a high correlation between a household's le

Question

A survey recently revealed a high correlation between a household's level of education and its library. Specifically, the more years of college and graduate school education received by the household's members, the more books in the household's library. The survey also indicated that the higher the education level of the household, the greater the percentage of books that are not works of fiction in its library.

Which of the following can be properly inferred from the survey results cited above?

(A) People with a higher level of education prefer reading nonfiction to works of fiction.

(B) Households with low education levels generally own more works of fiction than do households with high education levels.

(C) Households with lower levels of education generally own more works of fiction than nonfiction.

(D) The higher the education level of a household, the fewer works of fiction owned by the household.

(E) Households with high education levels generally own more nonfiction books than do households with low education levels.

Aj85 · Answer

the most important thing to notice is the term  percentage  .The survey also indicated that the higher the education level of the household, the greater the percentage of books that are not works of fiction in its library. the argument essentially states that higher the education level OF A household the higher percentage of non-fiction works are generally present in it's library.

A) Wrong . no such data is given. the author only says percentage of non-fiction books increases in families with higher level of education. ABSOLUTE VALUE OR PREFERENCE IS NOT GIVEN. ex- families with members who have done BA can have 20 % non-fiction in their library and families with members who did MA can have 30% non-fiction. The percentage of non-fiction books increased in Ma families(higher educated) but overall preference is still for fiction. (70%)

b)if it was more percentage of fiction, then it would have been right.

c)again we don't know absolute data.

d) again if it was fewer percentage it would have been right.

e) bang on ! the survery also stated that more years of education the more books a family owned. combined that with another finding that more educated a family more percentage of non-fiction book it reads, we come to this conclusion.

anordinaryguy · Answer

In My opinion, it should be 'D'

4) The higher the education level of a household, the fewer works of fiction owned by the household.

Reason : "the higher the education level of the household => the greater the percentage of Non-fiction books in its library" 
Because we are just talking about One household & two kind of books, percentage inherently tells the relationship between the number of two kind of books.

And 'D' exactly does that.

Besides why I don't think 'E' as correct answer, because nowhere in the argument , there is any direct mention of 'households with low education levels'

shashankp27 · Answer

E it is ,

D suggests that if the education level of the households increases , the number of non fiction books with the household will decrease; however this is not the case.

What if the education level of the households increases and households buy more fiction books but maintains the same number of nonfiction books ?

mysterio · Answer

though I chose D initially, but after going through this post I could see where where I got it wrong https://goo.gl/2uA5b

chanakya84 · Answer

This question more relates with the data manipulation(Percentage and Numbers). Re-read the sentence and it gives you two basic facts:
I - High level of education -> More  number  of books in the library.
II - High level of education -> More  percentage  of non-fiction books in the library.
See the difference in the above two statements. One talks about number and other talks about percentages. Now look at the options.

A) People with a higher level of education prefer reading nonfiction to works of fiction.   -> Passage doesn't say at all about any preferences. Hence incorrect.

B) Households with low education levels generally own more works of fiction than do households with high education levels.  -> May or may not be true. Since the high education levels have considerably more number of books than low level, then even though fiction books comprises low percentage the actual number may be far greater than the low education level fiction books. Hence incorrect.

C) Households with lower levels of education generally own more works of fiction than nonfiction.  -> With the same reason explained in option B, this choice again may not be true. Hence incorrect.

D) The higher the education level of a household, the fewer works of fiction owned by the household.  -> It may be possible that the number of fiction books is constant say 10 and the total number of books (basically non-fiction books) are increasing. This explains that fiction books now constitutes lower percentage. Hence incorrect.

E) Households with high education levels generally own more nonfiction books than do households with low education levels.  -> Now consider this scenario. High education levels have more number of books and higher percentage of non-fiction books. Overall high and non-fiction high percentage leads to higher number of non-fiction books. Hence correct.

hope that helps.

kinghyts · Answer

How can E) or for that matter B) to E) can be the correct answer. The information provided be never ever talks about "owning" the books.

Experts please comment.

Thanks

KyleWiddison · Answer

Don't be confused by the word library (where you normally borrow books). It's implied that people "own" the books that are in their personal libraries (i.e. the books that I own that are sitting on my bookshelf at home).

This question is testing your ability to see the difference between raw numbers (higher education leads to a greater number of books) and percentage (higher education leads to a higher percentage of non-fiction works). The wrong answer choices try to get you mixed up between percentages and raw numbers.

In E, the correct answer, we have the only implication we can pull from the facts presented. If higher education people have more books overall in their libraries, and the percentage of non-fiction books within the libraries is higher, they will own a greater number of non-fiction books than lower education people.

I will illustrate this with some made-up "average" numbers. Let's say lower-education people have 100 books at home and higher-education people have 200 books. Let's also say that lower-education people have 10% non-fiction and higher-education people have 20% non-fiction. That leads us to 10 non-fiction books (not percentage) for lower education and 40 non-fiction books for higher education, on average. Therefore, generally speaking (nice word choice in the correct answer), higher-education people will have more non-fiction books in their libraries.

KW

rohitkumar77 · Answer

i got the answer E but i am amazed to see that none of you thought that works of fiction can also be attributed to other things too say movies ; hmmm may be i just got lucky . was confused bw D AND E ; WENT FOR E

KyleWiddison · Answer

Fantastic! You got to the correct answer. Now, I'm going to challenge you to go back and figure out why D isn't the correct answer. This is our you enhance your capabilities on the GMAT. Can you see what is happening with the numbers in D that doesn't quite work on D?

KW

mdacosta · Answer

I agree with the OA, but can someone explain with C is incorrect?

The passage says the higher edu level, the higher the % of non-fiction books. To me this implies that lower edu folks would have more fiction than non-fiction (unless I'm not taking into the account that they own an equal amount of both, but this seems unlikely)

A+ question!

mikecal · Answer

The passage says nothing about the base or average ratio of fiction to non-fiction works. Only that the percentage increases as educational levels increase. Lower income folks could have an equal number of both books, more fiction books or even more non fiction books.

For example low edu lvl households could average 40% fiction and 60% non fiction books whereas high ed households average 20% fiction and 80% non fiction.

jct512 · Answer

Hi, I am clear on the difference between absolute numbers and proportions, which is why I am confused why C) isnt the correct answer.

My logic is as follows, if I have more X than Y, it means that I have a higher % of X compared to Y.
Therefore, it satisfies the information that the level of education corresponds with the % of nonfiction books.

I have gone over the answers for B) and E) and I cannot seem to see any difference between them, besides the difference in education levels and number of fiction/non fiction books compared to other households( which correct me if I am wrong, is wrong for comparing absolute values, and comparing with other households)

Would really appreciate an expert reply to help me understand the given answer.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Hi

You are correct in your logic that "if I have more X than Y, it means that I have a higher % of X compared to Y". However, the stimulus does not state that. The stimulus states, "...the higher the education level of the household, the greater the percentage of books that are not works of fiction in its library". In other words, "if I am more educated, I have a greater proportion of X than someone who is less educated". This is not what (C) states, and is, hence, incorrect.

The stimulus states that more educated households have a greater  proportion  of non-fiction books than less educated households. (B) states less educated households have a greater  number  of non-fiction books than more educated households. This is not necessarily true.

(E) states that more educated households own a greater  number  of non-fiction books than less educated households. This is correct because the stimulus tells us that more educated households also own a greater  number  of books than less educated households. A greater proportion of a greater number of books will clearly be more than the corresponding number for less educated households.

Hope this clarifies.

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

(A) People with a higher level of education prefer reading nonfiction to works of fiction.
Maybe that they have less time that's why they don't read rather than preferences

(B) Households with low education levels generally own more works of fiction than do households with high education levels.
They maybe don't even read anything for that matter we judt don't know

(C) Households with lower levels of education generally own more works of fiction than nonfiction.
Same as B they might not have any books for that matter

(D) The higher the education level of a household, the fewer works of fiction owned by the household.
Could be but the comparison isn't complete as to where the comparison is leading to

(E) Households with high education levels generally own more nonfiction books than do households with low education levels.
Yes this coud be a reason as they have to read more technical papers 
These are all my own thoughts hope it helps hence IMO E

Elite097 · Answer

CrackverbalGMAT  I have the same dount about C. I’m still not clear. Can you pls tell more In detail why is C not an inference . More x > y means higher % of X so people in high level have more non fiction than fiction so people in lower will obviously have lesser non fiction than fiction = more fiction than non fiction.

You can give numbers too

Posted from my mobile device

VerbalBot · Answer

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A survey recently revealed a high correlation between a household's le

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