At the company picnic, all of the employees who participated in more

Question

At the company picnic, all of the employees who participated in more than four of the scheduled events, and only those employees were eligible for the raffle held at the end of the day. Since only a small proportion of the employees were eligible for the raffle, most of the employees must have participated in fewer than four of the scheduled events.

Which one of the following arguments exhibits a flawed pattern of reasoning most like that exhibited by the argument above?

(A) Only third-and fourth-year students are allowed to keep cars on campus. Since one quarter of the third-year students keep cars on campus and one half of the fourth-year students keep cars on campus, it must be that fewer third-year students than fourth-year students keep cars on campus.

(B) Only those violin students who attended extra rehearsal sessions were eligible for selection as soloists. Since two of the violin students were selected as soloists, those two must have been the only violin students who attended the extra sessions.

(C) The only students honored at a special banquet were the band members who made the dean’s list last semester. Since most the band members were honored, most of the band members must have made the dean’s list.

(D) All of the members of the service club who volunteered at the hospital last summer were biology majors. Since ten of the club members are biology majors, those ten members must have volunteered at the hospital last summer.

(E) All of the swim team members who had decreased their racing times during the season were given awards that no other members were given. Since fewer than half the team members were given such awards, the racing times of more than half the team members must have increased during the season.

sidbidus · Answer

Ok.

question says

If A, then and only then B.

Since B, so A.

Though other choices are close, but observe

At the company picnic, all of the employees who participated in  more than four  of the scheduled events, and only those employees were eligible for the raffle held at the end of the day. Since only a small proportion of the employees were eligible for the raffle, most of the employees must have participated in  fewer than four  of the scheduled events.

What abt ppl who participated in 4 events

Choice (E) says


(E) All of the swim team members who had  decreased their racing times  during the season were given awards that no other members were given. Since fewer than half the team members were given such awards, the racing times of more than half the team members  must have increased  during the season. 

What about people whose timings remained same.

So reasoning is flawed.

eyunni · Answer

Sidbidus, I could just as well say this:

(B)Only those violin students who attended extra rehearsal sessions were eligible for selection as soloists. Since two of the violin students were selected as soloists, those two must have been the only violin students who attended the extra sessions. 

-- What about the other students who attended the extra rehearsal sessions but did not get selected?

(C) The only students honored at a special banquet were the band members who made the dean’s list last semester. Since most the band members were honored, most of the band members must have made the dean’s list. 

--Well, I see that this flaw is not the same as the one in question. 

(D) All of the members of the service club who volunteered at the hospital last summer were biology majors. Since ten of the club members are biology majors, those ten members must have volunteered at the hospital last summer. 
--Again don't see the same kind of flaw as (B).

(A) does not look similar to me. 

Why did you eliminate (B)?

sidbidus · Answer

There is a boundary line condition which is missing in the argument and in E.

In B

(B)Only those violin  students who attended extra rehearsal sessions  were eligible for selection as soloists. Since two of the violin students were selected as soloists, those two must have been the only violin students  who attended the extra sessions . 

-- What about the other students who  attended the extra rehearsal  sessions but did not get selected? 

There is no condition missing in (B). All blue color are same.

But notice the boundary condition missing in the argument and (E)

eyunni · Answer

Got it. It is (E). Thanks Sidbidus.

gandharvm · Answer

Please explain answer choices A and E

reynaldreni · Answer

At the company picnic, all of the employees who participated in more than four of the scheduled events, and only those employees were eligible for the raffle held at the end of the day. Since only a small proportion of the employees were eligible for the raffle, most of the employees must have participated in fewer than four of the scheduled events.

The argument overlooks the possibility that most of the employees could have actually taken exactly 4 scheduled events.
Argument talks about "more than four" and "fewer than four"

Similarly, Option E, " All of the swim team members who had decreased their racing times during the season were given awards that no other members were given. Since fewer than half the team members were given such awards, the racing times of more than half the team members must have increased during the season."

Option E talks about "decreased racing time" and "increased racing time". The option overlooks the possibility of "Constant racing time (no change)"

OA E

reynaldreni · Answer

A's flaw is incorrect comparison between absolute numbers and fractions
E's flaw is about changes and categorizing changes only into two groups, while a third category is possible

Thekingmaker · Answer

absolutely made think that me A was the option however the propotion worked out perfectly hence i went down hunting for other options e was the next one that came upon the list and WHOOle it's the answer

MBAB123 · Answer

Is it just me or there are lot of grammatical errors in this question? I had to read the first sentence thrice just to make sure I'm reading right.

"At the company picnic, all of the employees who participated in more than four of the scheduled events,  and only those employees  were eligible for the raffle held at the end of the day"

Fdambro294 · Answer

The flawed pattern of reasoning I noticed was the following:

If an employee was eligible for the raffle, then that employee was required to compete in MORE THAN 4 of the events.

We are told that only a small proportion of the employees were eligible for the raffle. Thus, only a small proportion met the requirement of entering more than 4 of the events.

The author then concludes that the majority of the employees (the remaining employees) must have participated in FEWER than 4 events.

What about the people who participated in EXACTLY 4 events? It’s possible that all the people who weren’t eligible participated in exactly 4 events and did not meet the requirement of participating in MORE THAN 4 events.

In E were are given a similar requirement. Only the swimmers who met the requirement of DECREASING their times were eligible for awards.

Only fewer than half were given the awards. This means only fewer than half must have met the requirement of DECREASED times.

The conclusion is then made that the other people who didn’t meet the requirement, more than half, must have INCREASED their times.

What about the swimmers whose times remained the SAME? It could have been that more than half of the swimmers had times that didn’t change and therefore didn’t meet the requirement to get the trophy.

By ignoring this “middle ground,” I believe E makes the same pattern of flawed reasoning as the passage.

Posted from my mobile device

VerbalBot · Answer

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At the company picnic, all of the employees who participated in more

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