Last visit was: 24 Apr 2026, 14:22 It is currently 24 Apr 2026, 14:22
Home
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
705-805 (Hard)|   Assumption|      
User avatar
Harley1980
User avatar
Retired Moderator
Joined: 06 Jul 2014
Last visit: 14 Jun 2024
Posts: 997
Own Kudos:
6,769
 [40]
Given Kudos: 178
Location: Ukraine
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Technology
GMAT 1: 660 Q48 V33
GMAT 2: 740 Q50 V40
GMAT 2: 740 Q50 V40
Posts: 997
Kudos: 6,769
 [40]
For centuries, mathematics seemed to exist in service to the natural 10 Aug 2015, 15:31
7
Kudos
Add Kudos
33
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
00:00
Start Timer
Pause Timer
Resume Timer
Show Answer
Hide
Show
History
B
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

75% (hard)

Question Stats:

57% (02:08) correct 43% (02:24) wrong based on 1365 sessions

History

Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
For centuries, mathematics seemed to exist in service to the natural sciences. Many of the great mathematical breakthroughs, like Newton's Calculus, were spearheaded in the effort to solve scientific questions. In the nineteen century, though, mathematicians made it clear that the primary object of mathematical study were the abstract creations of mathematics—numbers and shapes and functions and their more abstruse extensions—irrespective of whether this study has any bearing on scientific investigation. Therefore, mathematics is not properly one of the natural sciences.

Which of the following is an assumption that supports drawing the conclusion above from the reasons given for that conclusion?

A) Mathematics can also be used to serve social sciences, such as economics.
B) The object of a natural science must be something tangible that can be perceived by the senses.
C) Some great scientists, like Einstein, by their own admission, were not very good at math.
D) If one discipline serves another discipline, it can never rise to the same rank as the discipline it serves.
E) At times in the natural sciences, especially in Physics, mathematical calculations have led to extraordinary breakthroughs in scientific understanding.
ShowHide Answer
Official Answer
B
User avatar
samusa
User avatar
Joined: 01 Nov 2013
Last visit: 30 Nov 2025
Posts: 240
Own Kudos:
1,067
 [4]
Given Kudos: 410
GMAT 1: 690 Q45 V39
WE:General Management (Energy)
Products:
My Reviews
GMAT 1: 690 Q45 V39
Posts: 240
Kudos: 1,067
 [4]
For centuries, mathematics seemed to exist in service to the natural 14 Aug 2015, 06:47
4
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Harley1980
For centuries, mathematics seemed to exist in service to the natural sciences. Many of the great mathematical breakthroughs, like Newton's Calculus, were spearheaded in the effort to solve scientific questions. In the nineteen century, though, mathematicians made it clear that the primary object of mathematical study were the abstract creations of mathematics—numbers and shapes and functions and their more abstruse extensions—irrespective of whether this study has any bearing on scientific investigation. Therefore, mathematics is not properly one of the natural sciences.

Which of the following is an assumption that supports drawing the conclusion above from the reasons given for that conclusion?

A) Mathematics can also be used to serve social sciences, such as economics.
B) The object of a natural science must be something tangible that can be perceived by the senses.
C) Some great scientists, like Einstein, by their own admission, were not very good at math.
D) If one discipline serves another discipline, it can never rise to the same rank as the discipline it serves.
E) At times in the natural sciences, especially in Physics, mathematical calculations have led to extraordinary breakthroughs in scientific understanding.
Show more

Good one!! Thanks Harley

I was stuck between B and D , but I finally chose B.

Simply put B states that Natural Sciences CANNOT include subjects that deal with abstract entities. So, Mathematics is not a natural science. B plays with our understanding of the word abstract and real-things that can felt by senses.

I rejected D because the argument is not concerned about the relative ranking of the two subjects.
User avatar
mvictor
User avatar
Board of Directors
Joined: 17 Jul 2014
Last visit: 14 Jul 2021
Posts: 2,118
Own Kudos:
1,277
 [1]
Given Kudos: 236
Location: United States (IL)
Concentration: Finance, Economics
Schools: Stanford '20 (WD)
GMAT 1: 650 Q49 V30
GPA: 3.92
WE:General Management (Transportation)
Products:
My Reviews
Schools: Stanford '20 (WD)
GMAT 1: 650 Q49 V30
Posts: 2,118
Kudos: 1,277
 [1]
For centuries, mathematics seemed to exist in service to the natural 23 Oct 2016, 11:50
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Harley1980
For centuries, mathematics seemed to exist in service to the natural sciences. Many of the great mathematical breakthroughs, like Newton's Calculus, were spearheaded in the effort to solve scientific questions. In the nineteen century, though, mathematicians made it clear that the primary object of mathematical study were the abstract creations of mathematics—numbers and shapes and functions and their more abstruse extensions—irrespective of whether this study has any bearing on scientific investigation. Therefore, mathematics is not properly one of the natural sciences.

Which of the following is an assumption that supports drawing the conclusion above from the reasons given for that conclusion?

A) Mathematics can also be used to serve social sciences, such as economics.
B) The object of a natural science must be something tangible that can be perceived by the senses.
C) Some great scientists, like Einstein, by their own admission, were not very good at math.
D) If one discipline serves another discipline, it can never rise to the same rank as the discipline it serves.
E) At times in the natural sciences, especially in Physics, mathematical calculations have led to extraordinary breakthroughs in scientific understanding.
Show more

all but B and D can be easily eliminated.
B seems to fit the best - object of natural science must be smth tangible!!!!
but the primary object of math is studying abstract things!

B fits better than D.
User avatar
CrackverbalGMAT
User avatar
Major Poster
Joined: 03 Oct 2013
Last visit: 24 Apr 2026
Posts: 4,846
Own Kudos:
9,182
 [2]
Given Kudos: 226
Affiliations: CrackVerbal
Location: India
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 4,846
Kudos: 9,182
 [2]
For centuries, mathematics seemed to exist in service to the natural 25 Oct 2016, 02:57
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
It is always easier to summarize the argument in one line and then approach the question.

Here is what the argument is trying to say -

Primary object of mathematics = abstract creations --> Mathematics is not a natural science.

Immediately, we can spot that there is a jump in the argument from the LHS to RHS. "abstract creations" are somehow linked to "natural sciences".
Assumptions must link the LHS of the argument(premise) to the RHS of the argument (conclusion).

Any answer option that does this must be the correct answer.

A - we are concerned with whether mathematics is one of the natural sciences or not. "Social sciences" are not relevant to the argument.

B - correct answer. abstract = not tangible/not perceptible to the senses. this option negates a potential flaw in the argument. If natural sciences can also be something abstract/intangible, the argument falls apart.

C - this has nothing to do with my conclusion - mathematics is not a natural science.

D - whether mathematics rises to same rank or not is irrelevant to the conclusion - mathematics is not a natural science. Since mathematics is a independent field, it can probably rise to the same level as other fields - does not mean that it is not a natural sciences field.

E - what times are we referring to? Not clear. Currently, the focus of mathematics is on abstract concepts -> hence not a natural science - this is the argument. Also, if there are breakthroughs in physics or not through mathematical concepts does not have any impact on the claim that the primary object of mathematics is abstract concepts.
This option also slightly weakens the argument by stating that mathematics is indeed used in natural sciences such as physics.
avatar
Spovil
avatar
Joined: 21 Jul 2016
Last visit: 06 Feb 2017
Posts: 22
Own Kudos:
16
Given Kudos: 49
Location: India
Concentration: Strategy, Operations
Schools: ISB '18 NUS '19 S.P.Jain Institute
WE:Other (Computer Software)
Schools: ISB '18 NUS '19 S.P.Jain Institute
Posts: 22
Kudos: 16
For centuries, mathematics seemed to exist in service to the natural 05 Nov 2016, 09:34
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
B is the correct answer

Conclusion: mathematics is not properly one of the natural sciences.
Premise: the primary object of mathematical study were the abstract creations of mathematics.....

Based on above info, it can be seen that, for anything to be one of the natural science, the 'anything' must deal with non - abstract work.

'Abstract' means non-tangible or something, that exists only in mind. It means, natural science deals only with tangible subjects.
User avatar
aragonn
User avatar
Retired Moderator
Joined: 23 Sep 2015
Last visit: 30 Sep 2019
Posts: 1,170
Own Kudos:
5,939
 [2]
Given Kudos: 416
Products:
My Reviews
Posts: 1,170
Kudos: 5,939
 [2]
For centuries, mathematics seemed to exist in service to the natural 25 Jul 2018, 19:12
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post

Official Explanation


The jump from the third sentence to the fourth is interesting in this argument. The third states: math studies "numbers and shapes and functions and their more abstruse extensions" and that the implications for science aren't decisively important.

The fourth sentence states: math is not a natural science. To make this jump, we need some assumption that tells us what the criterion would be for discipline to be a "natural science," and why a field that studies "numbers and shapes and functions and their more abstruse extensions" would not qualify.

The whole issue of whether one discipline "serves" another is a big distraction to the main argument.

(B) is the credited answer. One can count physical things, but a pure number itself is not a sense object. There are physical objects in the shape of, say, a triangle, but the triangle itself is not a sense object. Certainly functions and "their more abstruse extensions" are not sense objects. If focus on tangible sense objects is the criterion that qualifies a discipline as a natural science, it's easy to see why mathematics does not meet this criterion. This completely explains the argument.

(BTW, the vast majority of mathematicians and scientists would wholeheartedly agree both with the conclusion as well as with the credited answer here.)

(A) & (D) & (E) all focus on the distractor issue. Whether or not math "serves" another discipline does not, in and of itself, speak to whether it qualifies as a natural science. In addition, (D) introduces the idea of "rank," implying that the natural sciences occupy a certain "rank" and that mathematics, in serving them, would be below this "rank"—none of this finds any support in the prompt.

(C) is anecdotal evidence: what is true for just one individual or for a handful of individuals does not reflect on the nature of the discipline of mathematics itself. (BTW, Einstein really did struggle with mathematics!)
User avatar
VerbalBot
User avatar
Non-Human User
Joined: 01 Oct 2013
Last visit: 04 Jan 2021
Posts: 19,424
Own Kudos:
1,010
Posts: 19,424
Kudos: 1,010
For centuries, mathematics seemed to exist in service to the natural 04 Jan 2026, 19:51
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot:

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

This post was generated automatically.
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7391 posts
AbhishekP220108
504 posts
bhanu29
358 posts