Curator: If our museum lends Venus to the Hart Institute for their

Question

Curator: If our museum lends Venus to the Hart Institute for their show this spring, they will lend us their Rembrandt etchings for our print exhibition next fall. Having those etchings will increase attendance to the exhibition and hence increase revenue from our general admission fee.

Museum Administrator: But Venus is our biggest attraction. Moreover the Hart’s show will run for twice as long as our exhibition. So on balance the number of patrons may decrease.

The point of the administrator’s response to the curator is to question

(A) whether getting the Rembrandt etchings from the Hart Institute is likely to increase attendance at the print exhibition

(B) whether the Hart Institute’s Rembrandt etchings will be appreciated by those patrons of the curator’s museum for whom the museum’s biggest attraction is Venus

(C) whether the number of patrons attracted by the Hart Institute’s Rembrandt etchings will be larger than the number of patrons who do not come in the spring because Venus is on loan

(D) whether, if Venus is lent, the museum’s revenue from general admission fees during the print exhibition will exceed its revenue from general admission fees during the Hart Institute’s exhibition

(E) whether the Hart Institute or the curator’s museum will have the greater financial gain from the proposed exchange of artworks

ID: 500303

souvik101990 · Accepted Answer

Official Explanation:

Argument Construction

Situation A curator and a museum administrator debate whether lending a particular artwork to the Hart Institute in exchange for a loan of some of the Hart Institute's artworks would increase or decrease attendance and revenue at the museum.

Reasoning Which of the curator's explicit or implicit claims is the museum administrator questioning? The administrator's statements that Venus is the museum's biggest attraction and that the Hart Institute's show will run twice as long as the museum's exhibition do not directly conflict with any statement or assumption made by the curator. However, the administrator's conclusion is that on balance the number of patrons at the museum may decrease if the curator's proposal is followed. This conclusion calls into question the curator's claim that the proposal will increase revenue from the general admission fee, since that claim presupposes that on balance the proposal will increase the number of visitors to the museum. (The context suggests that the administrator is using the term patrons to mean visitors rather than donors.)

Option C is Correct.  The curator implicitly infers that the former number will be larger than the latter, whereas the administrator questions this by asserting that the latter number may be larger than the former.

Why are other options wrong? :-

A - The administrator does not dispute that the Rembrandt etchings would probably increase attendance at the print exhibition but rather suggests that this increase would be exceeded by the loss of visitors to the museum while the Hart Institute borrows Venus.

B - Neither the curator nor the administrator comments on whether the patrons attracted to the Rembrandt etchings would be the same people attracted to Venus.

D - The administrator does not question whether the revenue during the print exhibition will exceed the revenue during the Hart Institute's exhibition, but rather whether it will exceed the loss of revenue during the Hart Institute's exhibition.

E - Neither the curator nor the administrator comments on whether the museum would gain more or less from the exchange than the Hart Institute would.

KarishmaB · Answer

Curator: If we lend Venus to the Hart Institute for their show this spring, they will lend us their Rembrandt etchings for our print exhibition next fall. Having those etchings will increase attendance to the exhibition and hence increase revenue.

Museum Administrator: But Venus is our biggest attraction. Moreover the Hart’s show will run for twice as long as our exhibition. So on balance the number of patrons may decrease.
(So will people come to us if Venus is not there? They may go to Hart. Also, Venus will be missing for twice as long. So this spring we may lose more revenue than any additional revenue we may get in half the number of days in fall)
The admin is working on their own overall revenue numbers only based on missing Venus and additional etchings scenario. Hart's revenue is irrelevant to him.

The point of the administrator’s response to the curator is to question

(A) whether getting the Rembrandt etchings from the Hart Institute is likely to increase attendance at the print exhibition

He doesn't question it. He questions the sum total impact of the exchange.

(B) whether the Hart Institute’s Rembrandt etchings will be appreciated by those patrons of the curator’s museum for whom the museum’s biggest attraction is Venus

Agian, he doesn't question whether the etchings will be appreciated.

(C) whether the number of patrons attracted by the Hart Institute’s Rembrandt etchings will be larger than the number of patrons who do not come in the spring because Venus is on loan

Correct. He is questioning the overall impact - will more people come because of etchings than what we will lose because of missing Venus?

(D) whether, if Venus is lent, the museum’s revenue from general admission fees during the print exhibition will exceed its revenue from general admission fees during the Hart Institute’s exhibition

No. The admin does not question whether they will get more revenue in spring (when Venus is missing) or in fall (when Hart's etchings are obtained) in case of exchange. He is only concerned about the "additional numbers". Will the extra during fall make up for loss during spring in case of exchange?

Note that options (C) and (D) are different. (C) talks about the differential impact of 'obtaining etchings' vs 'losing Venus' - will we lose more customers when Venus is missing or gain more when we have etchings. (D) talks about total revenue in spring vs fall and that which one will be higher. That is irrelevant. We need to see how the exchange has an impact.

Say, normally 1000 visit in spring and 500 in fall. 
Say, after the exchange, 800 visit in spring and 600 in fall. 
The admin is concerned not with the fact that spring has more visitors, but with the fact that there was a reduction of 200 in spring while addition of only 100 in fall. So (C) is correct.

(E) whether the Hart Institute or the curator’s museum will have the greater financial gain from the proposed exchange of artworks

Irrelevant. He doesn't care about Hart's revenue.

Answer (C)

haardiksharma · Answer

Can someone explain the whole argument fail to understand that 
What is the meaning of patron? 
also since they will be sending artifact won't they will get it back once the exhibition is over?

i am too confused here

arvind910619 · Answer

Patron means people who appreciate .In this case people who visit curator museum to see Venus
The argument is about lending Venus to other museum and taking Rembrandt etchings from other museum and then evaluating whether it will profit Curator museum .

The answer to this question is C

If the number of people to see Rembrandt etchings at Curator museum are not not greater than the number of visitors when Venus is on loan then lending Venus to other museum is a bad decision and the museum will not profit .

Curator: If our museum lends Venus to the Hart Institute for their show this spring, they will lend us their Rembrandt etchings for our print exhibition next fall. Having those etchings will increase attendance to the exhibition and hence increase revenue from our general admission fee.

Museum Administrator: But Venus is our biggest attraction. Moreover the Hart’s show will run for twice as long as our exhibition. So on balance the number of patrons may decrease.

The point of the administrator’s response to the curator is to question

(A) whether getting the Rembrandt etchings from the Hart Institute is likely to increase attendance at the print exhibition
(B) whether the Hart Institute’s Rembrandt etchings will be appreciated by those patrons of the curator’s museum for whom the museum’s biggest attraction is Venus
(C)   whether the number of patrons attracted by the Hart Institute’s Rembrandt etchings will be larger than the number of patrons who do not come in the spring because Venus is on loan  
(D) whether, if Venus is lent, the museum’s revenue from general admission fees during the print exhibition will exceed its revenue from general admission fees during the Hart Institute’s exhibition
(E) whether the Hart Institute or the curator’s museum will have the greater financial gain from the proposed exchange of artworks

gmatexam439 · Answer

Curator: If our museum lends Venus to the Hart Institute for their show this spring, they will lend us their Rembrandt etchings for our print exhibition next fall. Having those etchings will increase attendance to the exhibition and hence increase revenue from our general admission fee.

Museum Administrator: But Venus is our biggest attraction. Moreover the Hart's show will run for twice as long as our exhibition. So on balance the number of patrons may decrease.
The point of the administrator's response to the curator is to question

(A) whether getting the Rembrandt etchings from the Hart Institute is likely to increase attendance at the print exhibition - Administrator is comparing the attendance of both the events and reaching at a conclusion. This option talks about only one half. 
(B) whether the Hart Institute's Rembrandt etchings will be appreciated by those patrons of the curator's museum for whom the museum's biggest attraction is Venus - We are not worried about the appreciation. 
(C) whether the number of patrons attracted by the Hart Institute's Rembrandt etchings will be larger than the number of patrons who do not come in the spring because Venus is on loan - Correct. If the people at the show to be held in next spring are less than the people who do not turn out because of the absence of Venus, then overall there will be a loss for the company. The Administrator is referring to this very point while arguing against the Curator. 
(D) whether, if Venus is lent, the museum's revenue from general admission fees during the print exhibition will exceed its revenue from general admission fees during the Hart Institute's exhibition - Administrator is worried about the attendance of people that in turn will generate revenue. 
(E) whether the Hart Institute or the curator's museum will have the greater financial gain from the proposed exchange of artworks - We are not worried about the Hart institution.

zoezhuyan · Answer

Hi  mikemcgarry ,  GMATNinjaTwo ,  GMATNinja ,  MagooshExpert  Carolyn, @sayantanc2,@VeritasPrepKarishma
I think the key of this question is balance. But i don't understand why adminstrator says Hart's show will run twice as long as that of museum, i was misled by this statement.

when Venus is on loan, then museum will lost attendance, suppose the lose is  V 
when Venus is back, and has Rembrandt etchings, then museum will gain attendance, suppose gain is  R

Whether the attendance increase depends on which one is greater,  V  or  R ,no matter how long the exhibition is.

I wonder why Administrator states Hart's show will run twice as long as that of museum, IMO, even administrator does not mention the length of show, we can get the balance of attendance is the key.

Please help.

Thanks in advance
Have a nice day

>_~

MagooshExpert · Answer

Hi zoezhuyan ! Happy to help

The point that the administrator is making is that the museum will lose visitors when Venus is gone. The length of time is important because visitors come to the museum on a daily or weekly basis, so the longer that one exhibition is on display for, the more visitors the museum will have. Say that the museum usually gets 100 visitors per week. Over 10 weeks, that's 1000 visitors. Say that 50 of those visitors each week are only coming to see the Venus. That means that when the Venus is gone, the museum will have 50 fewer visitors each week. Let's say that the Rembrandt etchings will also draw 50 extra visitors each week. So if the Venus is gone for 10 weeks, then the museum will lose 10*50 = 500 visitors. But if the Rembrandt etchings are only there for 5 weeks, then the museum will only gain 5*50 = 250 visitors. That means that overall, the museum will lose visitors. So the administrator is trying to determine whether the number of visitors that will come for Rembrandt will be larger than the number of visitors lost. Does that make sense? If not, let me know

-Carolyn

zoezhuyan · Answer

Hi  MagooshExpert  Carolyn,
I completely understand your said. 
But i still think the length of the loan is not so necessary, because we can view the lost attendance as a whole package, no matter the loan is one week or two weeks, we can suppose the total lost attendance is  V , if one week, we can suppose the lost is  V , if two weeks, we can also suppose  V , 
similary, when Venus is back and Rembrandt etchings is on show, we can suppose gain attendance as a whole package, suppose  R , no matter how long the Tembrandt etchings is on the show.

So, we can ingore the length of shows, we just compare the total lost  V  the total gain  R ,

That's why i don't understand the role that Administrator states Hart's show will run twice as long as that of museum

Please help

Thanks in advance 
Have a nice day
>_~

MagooshExpert · Answer

Hi zoezhuyan , Here is the part of your reasoning that is incorrect: This doesn't make sense -- if the Venus is gone for only one day, then it will definitely result in fewer lost visitors than if it were gone for an entire year. So we can't just say that the loss is V -- the value of V will depend on how long the loan is for. Attendance is something that is measured per a unit of time, like days or weeks. So altering the total amount of time will alter the total attendance. Hope that helps

-Carolyn

GMATYoda · Answer

This premise is a conversation between two people one is the curator and the other is the administrator of the museum. Curator has come up with a proposal of lending their most valued attraction ,for a barter, to the other museum while the other museum's exhibition for them to display that. Only concern that the museum administrator raises is that, if they lend Venus that apparently is their biggest attraction, the number of patrons may decrease. 
 Question Stem The point of the administrator’s response to the curator is to question
 
This isn't the question that administrator poses to the curator. Administrator is concerned about if Venus is seem by people in the exhibition at Hart institute, will people come to see the Hart Institute’s Rembrandt etchings in the print exhibition.
 The comparison between the articles on the basis of appreciation they would get from the patrons. Least if it is appreciated by those patrons but not as much as they would appreciate Venus. Also the only audience at target mentioned here in this answer option are the patrons of the curator's museum, which is a self selected sample. What about the other people who would visit or not depending Upton their interests.
 This answer option hits straight to the bulls eyes. This seems legitimate as per the analysis done above.
 1. Revenue isn't the concern of the administrator.
2. Administrator isn't concerned about the number of people attending/revenue generated at Hart institute.
Only concern is the footfall in their print exhibition.
 This doesn't concern the Administrator. Seems that he is a nice guy and doesn't pokes his nose into other's work. All he is concerned with is the foot fall in the print exhibition.

C is the best option.

Sarjaria84 · Answer

Hi  souvik101990   VeritasKarishma   GMATNinja

I was stuck between 'C' & 'D' and chose 'D'. My doubt is, isn't option 'D' saying the same thing as option 'C' only in terms of general admission fees, which, as stated in the argument, is directly dependent on patron attendance.

If the "number of patrons attracted by the Hart Institute’s Rembrandt etchings will be larger than the number of patrons who do not come in the spring because Venus is on loan" then the "the museum’s revenue from general admission fees during the print exhibition (when the museum has Rembrandt etchings) will exceed  its revenue  from general admission fees during the Hart Institute’s exhibition (in spring when Venus is on loan)".

I chose 'D' over 'C' as it specifically mentioned the print and the Hart Institute’s exhibition.

Please can you help me in understanding where did I falter?

Thanks
Saurabh

Farina · Answer

Can anyone please tell me what is the meaning of "venus is on loan". The point of loan is nowhere discussed in the passage and this is the only reason i didnt select C

KarishmaB · Answer

If you "lend" a book to someone, the book is on "loan". "loan" is the act of lending. 
This is everyday English. The argument doesn't need to explain it.

Dinesh654 · Answer

Hello experts,
I interpreted this question as

museum administrator is doubting or questioning that Curators plan of "Increasing the revenue" might not work.

I chose C- it is clearly answers yes and no by increasing and decreasing the revenue respectively.

but E- Isn't saying the same thing?
Financial gain- isn't it the same as Revenue or its called profit?

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

I think if E asked the right question about 'financial gain,' it could be the right answer. But what question about financial gain is being asked in E? Be very specific!

GMATNinja · Answer

You're right that the administrator is worried that revenues may decrease at his/her museum. With that in mind, take another look at the exact wording of (E):
 
(E) compares the potential financial gain between the Hart Institute and the curator's museum (where the administrator works as well).

But does the administrator really care about this comparison? Nope -- he/she cares about whether  his/her museum  gains or loses revenue, and doesn't care at all about the revenues of the Hart Institute.

Consider this scenario: what if both the museum and the Hart Institue benefit from the exchange, but the Hart Institute benefits  more . The administrator would still be happy with the exchange even though his/her museum did  comparatively  less well than the Hart Institute. After all, if revenues are up, that's a win!

Because the administrator only cares about revenue at his/her museum, the comparison in (E) doesn't capture the administrator's point. Eliminate (E).

I hope that helps!

VerbalBot · Answer

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Curator: If our museum lends Venus to the Hart Institute for their

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