Science writer: Scientists’ astounding success rate with research prob

Question

Science writer: Scientists’ astounding success rate with research problems they have been called upon to solve causes the public to believe falsely that science can solve any problem. In fact, the problems scientists are called upon to solve are typically selected by scientists themselves. When the problems are instead selected by politicians or business leaders, their formulation is nevertheless guided by scientists in such a way as to make scientific solutions feasible. Scientists are almost never asked to solve problems that are not subject to such formulation.

The science writer’s statements, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?

(A) If a problem can be formulated in such a way as to make a scientific solution feasible, scientists will usually be called upon to solve that problem.
(B) Any problem a scientist can solve can be formulated in such a way as to make a scientific solution feasible.
(C) Scientists would probably have a lower success rate with research problems if their grounds for selecting such problems were less narrow.
(D) Most of the problems scientists are called upon to solve are problems that politicians and business leaders want solved, but whose formulation the scientists have helped to guide.
(E) The only reason for the astounding success rate of science is that the problems scientists are called upon to solve are usually selected by the scientists themselves.

abhishek31 · Answer

Hi, can you kindly help me decode what exactly question is saying and also what makes (c) a right choice

redskull1 · Answer

C it is.Simplifing the argument(as Ron purewal might say)helped me

The argument in simple : Scientists select their own problem.Hence success.The problems politicians select are also made by scientists(i dint know what formulation meant.Hence i went with this meaning).Scientists are never asked problems whose solution they do not know.

A- criteria to call scientists= not discussed
B- problems scientists can solve=again not discussed
C-if politicians had a narrow scope where formulations are not known then scientists might be in trouble = hold
D- like A,what are the problems that scientists are called for = irrelevant
E- we do not know if it is the only reason.Say for ex the panel evaluating the problems could be biased.This,thus,is way over board.

Hope it helped.

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ArtVandaley · Answer

daagh   mikemcgarry . Please share detailed solution

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nuevamateo20 · Answer

GMATNinja  - Can you please help provide some guidance? I'm having trouble seeing why anwer choice B is incorrect. Appreicate your help in advance!

sonalgmat123 · Answer

Even i thought B to be the correct answer , but the last line of the argument might be the reason that C is the answer.

Scientists are almost never asked to solve problems that are not subject to such formulation.

So the word almost says that not in every case formulation is implemented ..

sebo08 · Answer

1.We have scientific problems which are formulated scientifically and scientists are called upon to solve them with a high success rate. 
2.we have business problems which are formulated scientifically and scientists are called upon to solve them (presumably with high success rate). 
3.we have business problems which are NOT formulated scientifically and scientists are NOT even called upon to solve them.

NOW:

(A) If a problem can be formulated in such a way as to make a scientific solution feasible, scientists will usually be called upon to solve that problem.

this targets categories 1 & 2. this holds true for 1, but there is no guarantee that the scientists are asked to solve a large chunk of all business problems which can be formulated scientifically. It might be they are only asked 1% of those category 2 problems.
eliminate

(B) Any problem a scientist can solve can be formulated in such a way as to make a scientific solution feasible.

Any problem a scientist  is called upon to  solve can be formulated in such a way as to make a scientific solution feasible. this would be a correct answer. but we do not know what types of problems a scientist CAN solve. see attachment. eliminate

(C) Scientists would probably have a lower success rate with research problems if their grounds for selecting such problems were less narrow.

lets just keep this. acc. to Modus Tollens rule: "if P is true then Q is true". thus you can also say "if Q is false then P is false". this is a general logic rule. 
"if less narrow problem sets then lower success rates". now apply the rule . "if success rate is high then the problem set is narrow" and this simply restates what the actual argument was saying in the first place. no flaw found. might be the answer

(D) Most of the problems scientists are called upon to solve are problems that politicians and business leaders want solved, but whose formulation the scientists have helped to guide.

no information about how many problems of what type are the scientists called upon to solve. eliminate

(E) The only reason for the astounding success rate of science is that the problems scientists are called upon to solve are usually selected by the scientists themselves.

It is one of the reasons, but it says no where that this is the only reason! eliminate

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nuevamateo20 · Answer

sonalgmat123 
I see what you mean - good point! Thanks for sharing.

YashYashkratos · Answer

B),D) and E) eliminated , all being extreme with suggestions that may or may not happen.

A) cannot be inferred- you can think from this perspective - how will they know without the scientists that it can be formulated in such a way.

C) CORRECT - yes, success rate will probably be lower ,no extremes used and it also happens to be the general conclusion of the discussion so can definitely be inferred.

That be said not sure if this sort of question language is used in GMAT , a bit to hard on the comprehension aspect in the second half of the question.

RiyaJ0032 · Answer

Hi  DmitryFarber ,

some help on this one please!

just wanted to know how can C be correct?

from the stem we know that scientist have never solved problems that are not subject to formulas

so their high success rate is their solving formula based Q's or solving Q's they self select

but that does not mean that if they solve problems not involving formulas, their success rate would be low

it can or cannot be, the success rate can be at par as well

but maybe the option is validated from the use of the word "probably" which factors in a possibility that the success rate can also be at par

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

Yes, "probably" certainly makes a difference. We often see correct inference answers that only work because this kind of "softening" language has been added to make them less extreme or definitive.

You're right that we don't know for sure what % of problems scientists can solve. Perhaps they can solve everything! However, the author is making the point that scientists appear successful because they get to choose problems for which a scientific solution is feasible. It's reasonable to suppose that if scientists couldn't limit the selection in this way, they might encounter some problems for which a scientific solution is not feasible. ("Find out which religion is correct!") In that case, their success rate would certainly be lower. This follows a common inference pattern: If X is happening because of Y, the correct answer says that without Y, X may be less likely to happen. This is a safer/humbler conclusion than saying that if we remove one cause, we'll remove the effect. It still allows for the possibility that other causes will crop up.

Science writer: Scientists’ astounding success rate with research prob

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Science writer: Scientists’ astounding success rate with research prob

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