The cities of Oldtown and Spoonville are the same in area and size of

Question

The cities of Oldtown and Spoonville are the same in area and size of population. Since certain health problems that are caused by crowded living conditions are widespread in Oldtown, such problems must be as widespread in Spoonville.

The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument

(A) presupposes without warrant that the health problems that are widespread in any particular city cannot be caused by the living conditions in that city

(B) fails to distinguish between the size of the total population of a city and the size of the geographic region covered by that city

(C) fails to indicate whether average life expectancy is lowered as a result of living in crowded conditions

(D) fails to distinguish between those health problems that are easily treatable and those are not

(E) fails to take into account that having identical overall population density is consistent with great disparity in living conditions

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

The cities of Oldtown and Spoonville are the same in area and size of population. Since certain health problems that are caused by crowded living conditions are widespread in Oldtown, such problems must be as widespread in Spoonville.

The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument
(A) presupposes without warrant that the health problems that are widespread in any particular city cannot be caused by the living conditions in that city

A is weakening the argument, whereas rest are acting as a supporting element.

IOC is A
   Posted from my mobile device

exc4libur · Answer

argument
= O and S have same pop and area
= thus, O's probs caused by crowded
= must also be probs in S.

wkn
ans (E) if S has greater living conditions than O, maybe they don't have such problems.

randomavoidplease · Answer

I will go with "E" rest don't seem to make much sense, unless I misunderstood "A"

E is the only that talks about the living conditions disparity, rest we know that population and area size is same. Two cities with same population and size can have different living conditions.

lakshya14 · Answer

Isn't (E) strengthener? Saying that both cities are similar?

svasan05 · Answer

Hi Lakshya

Option (E) in fact provides a possible point of difference between the two cities. It states that the argument "fails to take into account that  having identical overall population density  is consistent with  great disparity in living conditions ".

In other words, it states that despite the fact that Oldtown and Spoonville have the same population densities ("same in  area  and  size of population "), they may have  great disparity in living conditions . Since the health problems mentioned are dependent on crowded  living conditions , such disparity may mean that the problems widespread in Oldtown may not be widespread in Spoonville, as concluded in the argument.

Hope this helps.

CEdward · Answer

The cities of Oldtown and Spoonville are the same in area and size of population. Since certain health problems that are caused by crowded living conditions are widespread in Oldtown, such problems must be as widespread in Spoonville.

The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument

(A)  presupposes without warrant  that the health problems that are widespread in any particular city  cannot be caused by the living conditions in that city  X
This is simply not true at all. The author says the opposite...

(B) fails to distinguish between the  size of the total population of a city and the size of the geographic region  covered by that city X
-no...the author did not fail to distinguish this

(C) fails to indicate whether  average life expectancy  is lowered as a result of living in crowded conditions X
-no...the author did not do this...LE is also irrelevant

(D) fails to distinguish between those health problems that are  easily treatable and those are not  X
-again, no.

(E) fails to take into account that having identical overall population density is consistent with great disparity in living conditions
CORRECT. The key here is "consistent with great disparity in living conditions", i.e. two populations can have the same population density yet vastly different living conditions. So while Oldtown may have crappy conditions, that doesn't imply that Spoonville does too.

Bish0p · Answer

Cx – S have health condition 
Px - O have health condition due to crowded l.c; same size and population
Ax – S=O and no other factor can contribute this
A’’ – They are not same; other factor also there; S might not be correct representative

(A) presupposes without warrant that the health problems that are widespread in any particular city cannot be caused by the living conditions in that city

(B) fails to distinguish between the size of the total population of a city and the size of the geographic region covered by that city - Questioning the premises, hence out of scope

(C) fails to indicate whether average life expectancy is lowered as a result of living in crowded conditions – Out of scope, as in question nothing is mentioned regarding life expectancy

(D) fails to distinguish between those health problems that are easily treatable and those are not – Out of scope, as nothing mentioned in argument

(E) fails to take into account that having identical overall population density is consistent with great disparity in living conditions - weaken the argument

Abhishek009 · Answer

Oldtown and Spoonville are same in terms of Area and Population.
A health problem of crowded Population is there in Oldtown -----> Same problem must exist in Spoonville (Conclusion)

(A) Will keep it for now.
(B) geographic region covered - Out of scope and irrelevant.
(C) average life expectancy - Out of scope
(D) distinguish between health problems that are treatable and not - Out of scope and irrelevant
(E) Will keep for now.

Between (E) and (A)

If (A) living condition is not the issue then what can be then issue, (E) on the other hand bridges that gap...

nikitathegreat · Answer

GMATNinja   KarishmaB

I have confusion between option choice B and E. Sharing my analysis below. Please let me know where did I go wrong.

Option choice B  
(B) fails to distinguish between the size of the total population of a city and the size of the geographic region covered by that city -The argument tells us that the size of the population and the area of the two cities are same. But what if one city has crowded conditions like out of 100sq feet 50 people live in 50sq feet whereas in other city out of 100 sq feet, 50 people live in 90 sq feet - not having crowded conditions. I felt this option choice talks about the same thing that the argument fails to distinguish between the size of the population of the city and the geographic region covered by this population.

Option Choice E  
(E) fails to take into account that having identical overall population density is consistent with great disparity in living conditions
Population density = no. of people/ land area = Are we saying that population density is consistent with great disparity in living conditions - what does living conditions means here? Do they still live crowded but there living conditions are better (I am not really convinced with this inference) or do they not live crowded and satisfies the above logic where they live in a spaced out manner. 
Can you explain the difference in this and above ans choice?

Thanks

agrasan · Answer

Hi  KarishmaB   DmitryFarber

Can we directly reject (A) on the basis of reasoning that it challenges the fact given in the argument  "certain health problems that caused by crowded  living conditions .." ?

guddo · Answer

The cities of Oldtown and Spoonville are the same in area and size of population. Since certain health problems that are caused by crowded living conditions are widespread in Oldtown, such problems must be as widespread in Spoonville.

The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument

The argument says: same area and same population implies same crowded living conditions, so the same crowding caused health problems must be equally widespread. The flaw is that overall density can match while actual crowding patterns differ a lot.

(A) presupposes without warrant that the health problems that are widespread in any particular city cannot be caused by the living conditions in that city

This misreads the argument. The argument explicitly says the problems are caused by crowded living conditions, so it is not presupposing they cannot be caused by those conditions.

(B) fails to distinguish between the size of the total population of a city and the size of the geographic region covered by that city

The argument does not confuse population size with land area; it explicitly uses both to imply density. The issue is what density implies, not mixing them up.

(C) fails to indicate whether average life expectancy is lowered as a result of living in crowded conditions

Life expectancy is irrelevant. The argument is about whether certain health problems are widespread, not about average lifespan.

(D) fails to distinguish between those health problems that are easily treatable and those are not

Treatability is irrelevant to whether the problems are widespread in the two cities.

(E) fails to take into account that having identical overall population density is consistent with great disparity in living conditions

This nails the flaw. Two cities can have the same overall population density but very different distributions of housing and crowding (one may have many overcrowded neighborhoods, the other may have more evenly spread or better housing). So the inference from “same area and population” to “same crowding related health problems” is weak.  That is the vulnerability.

Answer: (E)

KarishmaB · Answer

Yes.

Argument: Since certain health problems that are caused by crowded living conditions are widespread in Oldtown...

The author clearly thinks that health problems widespread in a city could be caused by living conditions. Option (A) says the opposite.

(A) presupposes without warrant that the health problems that are widespread in any particular city  cannot be caused by the living conditions in that city

KarishmaB · Answer

Premises:  
The cities of Oldtown and Spoonville are the same in area and size of population. 
Certain health problems that are caused by crowded living conditions are widespread in Oldtown

Conclusion:   Such problems must be as widespread in Spoonville.

A bit of pre-thinking here makes you realize that overall area and size of population tells you about overall population density but not whether it is evenly spread. What if Oldtown has mostly uninhabitable land because of which all its population lives in only 10% of its area? Then it may have dense pockets of population causing problems of living conditions. 
While Spoonville's entire land could be inhabitable. Then the population in Spoonville may be well spread out.
Hence the author fails to take the spread of the population into account.

(A) presupposes without warrant that the health problems that are widespread in any particular city cannot be caused by the living conditions in that city

He clearly says "certain health problems that are caused by crowded living conditions are widespread in Oldtown" so he supposes that widespread health problems  could  be caused by living conditions. Incorrect.

(B) fails to distinguish between the size of the total population of a city and the size of the geographic region covered by that city.

He does distinguish between them. He says that the population and size of area both are same for the two cities. He considers both factors separately. He doesn't confuse size of population with the size of area.

nikitathegreat  - This option talks about ' size of the total population of a city' and 'size of the geographic region covered  by that city',  not 'geographic region covered  by the population'.

(C) fails to indicate whether average life expectancy is lowered as a result of living in crowded conditions

Irrelevant to this argument. There is no discussion on average life expectancy. 
  
(D) fails to distinguish between those health problems that are easily treatable and those are not

Again irrelevant. Treatable vs untreatable diseases is not the discussion.

(E) fails to take into account that having identical overall population density is consistent with great disparity in living conditions

Correct. He fails to account for the fact that inspite of having identical overall population density, two cities could have great disparity in living conditions. That the two can occur together (are consistent). Exactly what we discussed above.

Answer (E)

The cities of Oldtown and Spoonville are the same in area and size of

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The cities of Oldtown and Spoonville are the same in area and size of

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