At Food World Supermarket, built in 1975, the number of successful the

Question

At Food World Supermarket, built in 1975, the number of successful thefts has risen dramatically in the last few months. Food world has a reliable electronic security system at all the customer exit doors, and this system is always operational. Therefore the thefts must have been committed by people who used exits other than the regular customer exit doors.

Which of the following is assumption that would make the conclusion above logically correct ?

(A) If a surveillance system is installed in a supermarket, it is always equipped at every possible exit.

(B) If an employee so wishes, he is allowed to leave thorugh an exit that is not monitored by surveillance system.

(C) If a store has reliable security system, it is impossible to pass through the system undetected.

(D) If a supermarket was built before 1980, it often has exits that cannot be equipped with electtronic surveillance.

(E) If a store has a reliable electronic security system but is still experiencing a rise in theft, it must be the case that the employees must are stealing.

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DhruvBadaya · Answer

(A) If a surveillance system is installed in a supermarket, it is always equipped at every possible exit.  No, it is clearly given that Food world has a reliable electronic security system at all the customer exit doors, and this system is always operational. Therefore the thefts must have been committed by people who used exits other than the regular customer exit doors. It implies that there must be some doors where security system is not in place. Or there might not be. No information as such is given.

(B) If an employee so wishes, he is allowed to leave through an exit that is not monitored by surveillance system.  Did the passage state this? No, it did not.

(C) If a store has reliable security system, it is impossible to pass through the system undetected.  Let's leave this for now. I cannot oppose this.

(D) If a supermarket was built before 1980, it often has exits that cannot be equipped with electronic surveillance.  This is irrelevant. It is clearly given that a store in 1975 had electronic surveillance.

(E) If a store has a reliable electronic security system but is still experiencing a rise in theft, it must be the case that the employees must are stealing.  What if a thief comes and steals? How can you just blame the employees?

The only answer I cannot oppose is C. Therefore that must be the answer.

Legenddary1234 · Answer

The argument states that the number of successful thefts at Food World Supermarket has increased dramatically in recent months despite having a reliable electronic security system at all regular customer exit doors. It concludes that the thefts must have been committed by people who used exits other than the regular customer exit doors.

The assumption required for this conclusion to hold true would be:

(C) If a store has reliable security system, it is impossible to pass through the system undetected.

This assumption is necessary because it ensures that if there's a reliable security system in place, individuals cannot bypass it undetected, reinforcing the conclusion that the thefts occurred through exits other than the regular customer exit doors. Therefore, option (C) is the correct assumption.

MS61 · Answer

(A) If a surveillance system is installed in a supermarket, it is always equipped at every possible exit. -  If we negate this statement that us the system is not installed at every possible exit, the conclusion remains true. Incorrect

(B) If an employee so wishes, he is allowed to leave thorugh an exit that is not monitored by surveillance system -  What the employee is doing is not our concern here. Incorrect

(C) If a store has reliable security system, it is impossible to pass through the system undetected. -  If we negate the statement that is "It is possible to pass through the system undetected then the conclusion is distorted. Correct

(D) If a supermarket was built before 1980, it often has exits that cannot be equipped with electtronic surveillance. -  This statement is irrelevant because we are concerned about stores built in 1975. This is a conditional statement. Incorrect

(E) If a store has a reliable electronic security system but is still experiencing a rise in theft, it must be the case that the employees must are stealing. -  We are concerned on how the thief is escaping the security system rather than who is stealing. Incorrect

Abhishek009 · Answer

After a first read (Of the options) there is a 3 (Incorrect choices A, B & D) - 2 (Correct choices C & E)split.

Now, in option (E) we can not always blame the employees , when the discussion revolves around the Customers. May be they are involved, but there is no way to assume it and blame own employees...

Now, try to negate option (C) : "If a store has reliable security system, it is  im possible to pass through the system undetected." this clealry goes against what we already know "electronic security system at all the customer exit doors, and this system is always operational." and breaks the arguement !!! Hold on...

Now, try to negate option (E) : "If a store has a reliable electronic security system but is still experiencing a rise in theft, it must be the case that the employees must   NOT   be stealing." This option just brings an outside element and then negates the element it brings and indirectly closes an option , thereby round about talks about the   CUSTOMERS,   Which is aready out point of discussion in the entire stimulus.

Hence, Answer must be (C)

Rick_0x · Answer

At Food World Supermarket, built in 1975, the number of successful thefts has risen dramatically in the last few months. Food world has a reliable electronic security system at all the customer exit doors, and this system is always operational. Therefore the thefts must have been committed by people who used exits other than the regular customer exit doors.

Which of the following is assumption that would make the conclusion above logically correct ?

(A) If a surveillance system is installed in a supermarket, it is always equipped at every possible exit.

(B) If an employee so wishes, he is allowed to leave thorugh an exit that is not monitored by surveillance system.

(C) If a store has reliable security system, it is impossible to pass through the system undetected.

(D) If a supermarket was built before 1980, it often has exits that cannot be equipped with electtronic surveillance.

(E) If a store has a reliable electronic security system but is still experiencing a rise in theft, it must be the case that the employees must are stealing.

I understand why C is the answer after going through the solutions below.
But my question is that shouldn't the option C be " If a store has reliable security system  in the customer exits , it is impossible to pass through the system undetected."
Because if the store has reliable security system as a whole in the store (even covering the exits not meant for customers) then the thefts shouldn't be happening in the first place.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation

This is an Assumption question. The correct choice will be something the author left out, but must believe to be true for the conclusion to follow from the evidence. The author's conclusion comes after the conclusion keyword, "therefore." The thefts must have been committed by people using other exits. As evidence, the author notes that Food World has a reliable electronic security system at all customer exit doors. This system is always in operation. Note the extreme language in the conclusion - the thefts "must" have been committed by people using other exits. Whenever the conclusion contains definite language like this, consider whether the author has gone too far. Here, the security system is "reliable." This doesn't mean it's infallible, or that there is no way to get past it. In order to conclude that the thefts must have gone through other exits, however, the author must be assuming the system is indeed infallible and that there is no way past it.

(C) matches this prediction and is the correct answer. If the author thought it was possible to pass through the system undetected, he wouldn't conclude the thefts must have gone through other exits. Thus, the author must believe it is impossible to pass through the system undetected.

(A) can't be assumed by the author, because he concludes that the thefts took place at exits that did not have the system. It would contradict his argument if the author believed that every store with a system has the system on every possible exit.

(B) wouldn't make the conclusion correct, because the author already concludes that the perpetrators are using exits that are not monitored. Whether the perpetrators are employees or not is irrelevant. The argument is simply that, from the fact that there is a reliable security system at all customer exit doors, the thefts must be occurring through other doors. (B) doesn't deal with the connection between those two things.

(D) is irrelevant to the argument, since the stimulus already states that Food World has some exits that don't have the security system. Whether or not those exits could be equipped with "electronic surveillance" (which isn't even necessarily the same thing as an "electronic security system") is not important to the reasoning.

(E), if assumed, would not make the conclusion that the thefts were being perpetrated through certain exits correct. Even if it were known that employees were the thieves, the employees could be using customer exits and somehow bypassing the security system.

TAKEAWAY: Be very clear on the evidence and conclusion of the argument, and stick to the connection between them. Irrelevant choices are quite common, and can be easily spotted by having a good paraphrase of the argument.

VerbalBot · Answer

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