"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance

Question

"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance remains functional without breaking down. Sixty years ago, average refrigerator durability was 15 years, whereas now refrigerators operate continuously for more than 40 years on average. Thus, at that time, people must have considered refrigerators to be nearing the end of their operational life at an age that we now consider will leave many more working years.

Which of the following, if true, undermines the argument above?

A: Today, many more households own refrigerators than did households sixty years ago.
B: Most of the improvements in durability in the past sixty years have been achieved through cutting down on the number of refrigerators that break down in the first year of ownership.
C: Many of the refrigerators that last an extremely long time today do so only because of engineering technology that was not available sixty years ago.
D: The proportion of refrigerators that break down when they are between 35 years and 40 years old is significantly smaller today than is the proportion of refrigerators that break down after 40 years.
E: More refrigerators sixty years ago received regular service than receive it today.

pqhai · Accepted Answer

Hi Supernova29

I'm glad to help.

ANALYZE THE STIMULUS:
  
Fact: Sixty years ago, average refrigerator durability was 15 years, 
Fact: Now refrigerators operate continuously for more than 40 years on average. 
 Conclusion:  at that time, people must have considered refrigerators to be nearing the end of their operational life at an age that we now consider will leave many more working years.

Assumption:   The comparison of average durability is valid. On the other hand, there is  NO other factor that makes the estimation of average durability incorrect.

Question: Which of the following, if true, undermines the argument above?

ANALYZE EACH ANSWER:

A: Today, many more households own refrigerators than did households sixty years ago.
 Wrong.  "More refrigerators" says nothing about average durability increases or decreases. Thus, A does nothing to weaken the conclusion.

B: Most of the improvements in durability in the past sixty years have been achieved through cutting down on the number of refrigerators that break down in the first year of ownership.
  Correct.   B mentions that the comparison of the argument is INCORRECT because there is a factor virtually makes the average durability of refrigerators now increase than that of refrigerators in the past. Thus, B weakens the conclusion and is correct answer.

C: Many of the refrigerators that last an extremely long time today do so only because of engineering technology that was not available sixty years ago.
 Wrong.   TEMPTING but wrong.  C does not weaken the conclusion, but rather strengthens the conclusion. Why? Because C means a refrigerator now can live longer because of improved engineering technology. 
==> So if there is NO engineering technology the average durability of refrigerators now may be only 15 years or equal that of a refrigerator sixty years ago. 
==> On the other hand, that the average durability 15 years in the past  without  engineering technology = average durability 40 years now  with  improved engineering technology is a CORRECT comparison.

D: The proportion of refrigerators that break down when they are between 35 years and 40 years old is significantly smaller today than is the proportion of refrigerators that break down after 40 years.
 Wrong.  D means almost refrigerators now can live for 40 years whereas those in the past can live only for 15 years. Thus, that  15 years in the past = 40 years now  is a CORRECT comparison. D strengthens the conclusion. D is wrong.

E: More refrigerators sixty years ago received regular service than receive it today.
 Wrong.  E means the quality of refrigerators in the past is worse than in the current. Thus, if a refrigerator lived for 15 years sixty years ago, we definitely considered the refrigerator near the end of its life. Thus, E does not weaken the conclusion.

Hope it helps.

Success2015 · Answer

I chose B (Most of the improvements in durability in the past sixty years have been achieved through cutting down on the number of refrigerators that break down in the first year of ownership) with the following reasoning.

In the past, few refrigerators were breaking down in the 1st year itself. This brought down the avg to 15 yrs. So there were refrigerators which were functional past 15/20 years.

In the current time period, refrigerators which break down in the 1st year have been removed.

The argument says "at that time, people must have considered refrigerators to be nearing the end of their operational life at an age that we now consider will leave many more working years.". This means that if somebody had a refrigerator which was 15 yrs old, they would have thought that its nearing its end. However the avg(15 yrs) has been brought down significantly because of refrigerators which were breaking down in 1st yr. Option B addresses this and thus weakens the conclusion.

hope this reasoning is correct

shanmugamgsn · Answer

Y not C here???

C seems to be more Weaken the argument for me... 
If there was good tech 60 yrs ago they would have had better life time for refrigerators....

Isn't this undermining argument???
Please explain

Archit143 · Answer

Hi there og-critical-reasoning-1-i-disagree-107699.html refer to the link similar question....the above question is an interpretation of the question 1 CR section of OG 12 dealing with life expectancy.... hope that helps

Supernova29 · Answer

Could someone please explain this through options. I thought D was close.

Supernova29 · Answer

hi pqhai,
Thanks so much. It does help. I found the question a little twisted with clarity lacking in its stimulus and the question stem.

Amit0507 · Answer

I too fell for "C", but I guess "C" would be more appropriate had the question asked us to weaken/undermines the CONCLUSION but not the argument..

junkostem · Answer

Well, the conclusion is basically stating the author's claim ---> which is the heart of the argument. 
So, the conclusion is pretty much the argument.

C would be correct if this were a   strengthen   question. This choice is just an additional fact that aids the author's argument --- telling us that refrigerators do indeed live longer nowadays.

Instead, the correct answer is B.

B tells us that the cutdown on faulty refrigerators after the first year is one of the reasons for the improvement in refrigerator durability.
This tells us that even recently, there were refrigerators that don't last 40 years. In fact, they don't even live past the first year. 
This fact completely destroys the argument, telling us that there are refrigerators nowadays that can't live past 40 years.

LUC999 · Answer

Was confused between B and C.. But finally picked B

KarishmaB · Answer

Responding to a pm:
The reasoning is correct.

pulkitaggi · Answer

We can weaken the argument in the following way-

There is no significant technological advances in refrigeration in last 60 years. Assume 60 years back 2 types of refrigerators were one that had life span of only 1 year and one with the lifespan of more than 40 years. Now obviously overall average drops. And today (after 60 years ) manufacturers have stopped manufacturing refrigerator which had 1 years of life expectancy.

Now tell what do you understand? Many people 60 years back would have considered there refrigerator life expectancy at 40 ( Not 15 years), and today also many people will consider 40 years to be the end of the refrigerators cycle. HENCE OPTION B. which indirectly states that change in durability is not because of technological advances but we have just removed the faulty refrigerators ( which brings down the average durability) from a mere mathematical equation, and that both the generations experienced similar level of satisfaction and durability from its refrigerator.

chesstitans · Answer

B is better than C 
b/c in C, "many" and "extremely" only refers to some exceptional refrigerators, and this cannot explain the average or all refrigerators.

Arro44 · Answer

That was a pretty though nut to crack, below my rational with regards to the answer choices

sandman13 · Answer

Can you please explain why answer choice C is incorrect?

Prateek176 · Answer

KarishmaB  ,  MartyMurray

C also looks like a weakener. Can we eliminate it on the grounds that "many of the refrigerators" part in option C may talk about an insignificant number of refrigerators which maynot impact our conclusion??

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

C is not a weakener. C is a trap choice worded to read as if it weakens the argument, though, in actuality, it has no effect on the support for the conclusion.

To test your idea that, perhaps, C does not weaken the argument because it says "many of the refrigerators", let's change "many" to "all".

Here's our new version of C:

(C, New Version)  All  of the refrigerators that last an extremely long time today do so only because of engineering technology 
that was not available sixty years ago.

Does this statement make any difference?

What's the conclusion of the argument?

Conclusion: at that time, people must have considered refrigerators to be nearing the end of their operational life at an age that we now consider will leave many more working years.

Does the fact that refrigerators last longer now only because of engineering technology that was not available sixty years ago make any difference?

Regardless of why refrigerators made today last longer, they last longer. So, the conclusion, that people didn't expect them to last as long sixty years ago, stands, regardless of why they last longer today.

Thus, even our new version of C has zero impact on the argument.

To avoid choosing an answer like C, you have to carefully consider how each choice actually affects the support for the conclusion. Many choices will be worded in ways that make them seem to affect arguments if you don't look closely. So, when choosing a critical reasoning answer choice, you need to go beyond choosing a choice that kind of seems to have the effect you are seeking to supporting your choice with a very clear rationale.

KarishmaB · Answer

(C) is not a weakener. 
Note that we don't care WHY the refrigerators are more durable today. What the argument tries to establish is that they ARE more durable today. That they actually do last longer today. So, if previously people would consider end of life at 15 yrs, today they expect many more working years. 
(B) tells us that the reason we are seeing an improved Durability number is that the ones pulling down the average have been removed. So it is possible that a typical refrigerator lasts just as long as it did before but the "average age" has improved by taking care of the "bad" pieces.

(C) gives us a reason why refrigerators last longer today (because of technology not available before). It actually helps establish that refrigerators perhaps do last longer today. If anything, it might strengthen the argument by making it more plausible.

rahulkashyap · Answer

Can you please provide a more detailed explanation as to why b is the answer? Maybe with a few numbers? My understanding is that because of a number of devices breaking down at 1 year, the average was brought down though the real life of the ones that didn't break down at first year was in fact more than 15
Now that the 1st year ones are removed,the average is back to being high. 
 chetan2u   KarishmaB

Posted from my mobile device

KarishmaB · Answer

Yes, your logic is correct.

Avg of 
1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 15, 25, 30, 30, 35, 60 is about 18

Avg of 
2, 15, 25, 30, 30, 35, 60 is about 30

We just took out the ones that broke in the 1st year and the average has been bumped up. The rest of the things have stayed as it is.

"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance

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

"Durability" is the measure of how long a certain appliance

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