Council member: The profits of downtown businesses will increase if

Question

Council member: The profits of downtown businesses will increase if more consumers live in the downtown area, and a decrease in the cost of living in the downtown area will guarantee that the number of consumers living there will increase. However, the profits of downtown businesses will not increase unless downtown traffic congestion decreases.

If all the council member’s statements are true, which one of the following must be true?

(A) If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the number of consumers living in the downtown area will increase.
(B) If the cost of living in the downtown area decreases, the profits of downtown businesses will increase.
(C) If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the cost of living in the downtown area will increase.
(D) If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the cost of living in the downtown area will decrease.
(E) If the profits of downtown businesses increase, the number of consumers living in the downtown area will increase.

fitzpratik · Answer

Council member:  The profits of downtown businesses will increase if more consumers live in the downtown area, and a decrease in the cost of living in the downtown area will guarantee that the number of consumers living there will increase.  However, the profits of downtown businesses will not increase unless downtown traffic congestion decreases.

If all the council member’s statements are true, which one of the following must be true?

(A) If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the number of consumers living in the downtown area will increase.  WRONG - No correlation between traffic congestion and number of consumers living in downtown area.

(B) If the cost of living in the downtown area decreases, the profits of downtown businesses will increase.  Correct - Implied in highlighted sentence

(C) If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the cost of living in the downtown area will increase. WRONG - No correlation between traffic congestion and cost of living.

(D) If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the cost of living in the downtown area will decrease.  Wrong - No Correlation

(E) If the profits of downtown businesses increase, the number of consumers living in the downtown area will increase.  WRONG - The cause and effect are flipped/reversed

Wonderwoman31 · Answer

Hi nightblade354,

Could you please look at the option choices for this question? Won't statement following however has any impact on answer choice.

Skywalker18 · Answer

Council member: The profits of downtown businesses will increase if more consumers live in the downtown area, and a decrease in the cost of living in the downtown area will guarantee that the number of consumers living there will increase. However, the profits of downtown businesses will not increase unless downtown traffic congestion decreases. Type-inference Boil it down- 1. The profits of downtown businesses will increase if more consumers live in the downtown area- "more consumers living in the downtown area" is a sufficient condition for the profits of downtown businesses to increase 2. A decrease in the cost of living in the downtown area will guarantee that the number of consumers living there will increase- "a decrease in the cost of living in the downtown area" is a sufficient condition for the number of consumers living there to increase 3. The profits of downtown businesses will not increase unless downtown traffic congestion decreases - "decrease in downtown traffic congestion" is a necessary condition for an increase in profits of downtown businesses (A) If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the number of consumers living in the downtown area will increase.- incorrect- necessary condition is made a sufficient condition (B) If the cost of living in the downtown area decreases, the profits of downtown businesses will increase. - Correct- combines statements 1 and 2 (C) If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the cost of living in the downtown area will increase. - incorrect- necessary condition is made a sufficient condition and then part(result aspect) is incorrect (D) If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the cost of living in the downtown area will decrease. - incorrect- necessary condition is made a sufficient condition and then part(result aspect) is incorrect (E) If the profits of downtown businesses increase, the number of consumers living in the downtown area will increase. - incorrect- reverses the causality Answer B Wonderwoman31 , Hope this helps!

nightblade354 · Answer

Wonderwoman31 ,

You forgot to tag me! But no matter. Here is a diagram that I hope helps you and everyone else who may struggle on this. By the way, this is heavy with LSAT Lawgic; the GMAT won't usually force you to use sufficient and necessary conditions to answer questions (though this technique can really help)!

Decrease in Cost of Living Down Town ---> More Customers Living Down Town ---> Profits of Businesses Down Town Increase ---> Down Town Traffic Congestion Decreases 
 
 The answer to the question will be something that follows our path, and indeed the answer does

Wonderwoman31 · Answer

Hi  nightblade354 ,

Don't you think that for the profits of the business to increase both more customers should live in downtown, and downtown traffic congestion should decrease? But, Option B talks about only one condition. I wasn't convinced by the option choice. But, it was the only choice that could be deemed right among all the available answer choices.

nightblade354 · Answer

Wonderwoman31 ,

That is exactly what my diagram shows. If the first items occurs, then the second occurs. If the second occurs, then the third occurs. And so one and so forth.

nick1816 · Answer

There are 2 independent scenarios
1. CL decrease>>> Number of people increase>>>>profit increase
2. TC decrease>>> Profit increase

A. Not given
B. statement 1 clearly shows that
C. Not given
D. Not given
E. Reverse case

anothermillenial · Answer

The symbolic logic for the solution as follows:

P1: The profits of downtown businesses will increase if more consumers live in the downtown area.

↑DTC (increase # of downtown area consumers) ⇢ ↑ π

P2: and a decrease in the cost of living in the downtown area will guarantee that the number of consumers living there will increase.

↓ COL (decrease cost of living) ⇢ ↑DTC

P3: However, the profits of downtown businesses will not increase unless downtown traffic congestion decreases.

~ ↓ T (unless traffic decreases) ⇢ ~↑π

To find a conclusion, we combine the premises above to get:

↑DTC ⇢ ↑ π ................................................(From P1)
↓ COL ⇢ ↑DTC ............................................(From P2)
↑π ⇢ ↓ T ......................................................(From ~P3)
↓ COL ⇢ ↑DTC ⇢ ↑ π ⇢ ↓ T ........................(From P1+P2+~P3)

Now, comparing this against our answer choices, we have:

A) If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the number of consumers living in the downtown area will increase. 
Not given....basically, concluding that ↓ T ⇢ ↑DTC, which is not matching any premise above.

(B) If the cost of living in the downtown area decreases, the profits of downtown businesses will increase. 
 ↓ COL  ⇢ ↑DTC  ⇢ ↑ π  ⇢ ↓ T

(C) If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the cost of living in the downtown area will increase. 
This is a mistaken reversal of our combined statement (P1+P2+~P3): ↓ COL ⇢↑DTC ⇢ ↑ π ⇢ ↓ T.
 Mistaken reversal: ↓ T ⇢ ↑ π ⇢↑DTC ⇢↓ COL.

(D) If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the cost of living in the downtown area will decrease. 
Same as C. Also a mistaken reversal. Not necessarily true.

(E) If the profits of downtown businesses increase, the number of consumers living in the downtown area will increase. 
Same as C and D. A mistaken reversal.

nuevamateo20 · Answer

nightblade354

Although I got this question right, I have some reservation regarding answer choice B. I see the diagram that you did, thanks for sharing and it's very helpful. I'm having trouble seeing why the last sentence can be implemented as part of the flow in the diagram when we are not given any references explaining the relationship btw traffic congestion level and downtown biz’ profits. To put it another way, I’m having trouble understanding why we can choose answer choice B when we do not know if traffic congestion is / has been alleviated. Apology for any poor wording here. Hopefully my question makes sense.

Thanks for you help!

nightblade354 · Answer

Whenever we have a situation where we have X --> Y --> Z, it has to be that X --> Z; this is how the diagram connects. Let me give you an example: If you run really fast, you will win the race. If you win the race, you will be a hero. Therefore, if you run really fast, you will be a hero. The same principle applies, per logic. The sufficient condition triggers the necessary every time. As a result, a statement (Y in this case) can act as a necessary condition for X and a sufficient condition for Z. When X is triggered, Y has to and it follows that Z has to as well.

I hope that clears it up! If not, please ask.

RudreshKal · Answer

How can you conclude B is the ans when there is no correlation between More people living in Downtown equates to less congestion in traffic. We are extrapolating here by everyday scenario and not because of question thread logic. B could have been right if Last sentence was not there.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Council member: The profits of downtown businesses will increase if

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