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Difficulty:
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Question Stats:
58% (02:15) correct
42%
(02:22)
wrong
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A certain experimental fungicide causes no harm to garden plants, though only if it is diluted at least to ten parts water to one part fungicide. Moreover, this fungicide is known to be so effective against powdery mildew that it has the capacity to eliminate it completely from rose plants. Thus this fungicide, as long as it is sufficiently diluted, provides a means of eliminating powdery mildew from rose plants that involves no risk of harming the plants.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) There is not an alternative method, besides application of this fungicide. for eliminating powdery mildew from rose plants without harming the plants.
(B) When the fungicide is sufficiently diluted it does not present any risk of harm to people, animals. or beneficial insects.
(C) Powdery mildew is the only fungal infection that affects rose plants.
(D) If a fungicide is to be effective against powdery mildew on rose plants, it must eliminate the powdery mildew completely.
(E) The effectiveness of the fungicide does not depend on its being more concentrated than one part in ten parts of water.
_________________
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) There is not an alternative method, besides application of this fungicide. for eliminating powdery mildew from rose plants without harming the plants.
(B) When the fungicide is sufficiently diluted it does not present any risk of harm to people, animals. or beneficial insects.
(C) Powdery mildew is the only fungal infection that affects rose plants.
(D) If a fungicide is to be effective against powdery mildew on rose plants, it must eliminate the powdery mildew completely.
(E) The effectiveness of the fungicide does not depend on its being more concentrated than one part in ten parts of water.
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Bunuel
Premises:
- Fungicide causes no harm if diluted 10:1.
- Fungicide eliminates powdery mildew completely from rose plants
Conclusion:
This fungicide, as long as it is sufficiently diluted, provides a means of eliminating powdery mildew from rose plants that involves no risk of harming the plants.
(sounds fair! Let's look at the options for assumptions)
(A) There is not an alternative method, besides application of this fungicide. for eliminating powdery mildew from rose plants without harming the plants.
The argument does not say that there are no other such methods. It just says that this fungicide is such a method. Not correct.
(B) When the fungicide is sufficiently diluted. it does not present any risk of harm to people, animals. or beneficial insects.
Harm to people, animals etc is irrelevant for our argument. We are concluding about safety to the rose plants only.
(C) Powdery mildew is the only fungal infection that affects rose plants.
Other fungal infections are irrelevant to our argument. We are concluding about powdery mildew only.
(D) If a fungicide is to be effective against powdery mildew on rose plants, it must eliminate the powdery mildew completely.
The argument does not talk about "effectiveness". It talks about eliminating powdery mildew in both premises and conclusion.
(E) The effectiveness of the fungicide does not depend on its being more concentrated than one part in ten parts of water.
Correct. It is safe when it is diluted 10:1. It is effective in completely eliminating mildew but it is effective when diluted 10:1? We are assuming that effectiveness does not reduce when diluted so much. Hence this is the answer.
Answer (E)
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General Discussion
GMAT 1: 690 Q48 V35
Posts: 45
Choice E is the winner because the argument says the 10:1 ratio is necessary to keep the fungi from harmfully impacting other plants. If you negate E and there is something else that is important to preventing other plants from being impacted, the conclusion of the fungi just being sufficiently diluted to protect other plants falls apart because there are possible other requirements now.
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gmatconqueror2018
Exactly, so try to negate option (E)
The effectiveness of the fungicide depends on its being more concentrated than one part in ten parts of water.
Now, check the stimulus -
Quote:
Thus, negating option (E) makes the conclusion fall apart....
_________________
A is irrelevant. B restates information already in the passage but also includes new information, so it is definitely out. C is irrelevant and even if it is not true, the passage only says that the fungicide can eliminate powdery mildew, the argument does not collapse. D is out of scope. So E is the right answer. The argument says that the fungicide must be diluted to this ratio, so we need to assume that this will not be an impediment to its effectiveness. If E was not true then this fungicide could not be effective
KarishmaB
Hello Mam,
Isn't the conclusion pointing out to the ratio 10:1 by stating "as long as sufficiently diluted"?
A certain experimental fungicide causes no harm to garden plants, though only if it is diluted at least to ten parts water to one part fungicide. Moreover, this fungicide is known to be so effective against powdery mildew that it has the capacity to eliminate it completely from rose plants. Thus this fungicide, as long as it is sufficiently diluted, provides a means of eliminating powdery mildew from rose plants that involves no risk of harming the plants.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) There is not an alternative method, besides application of this fungicide. for eliminating powdery mildew from rose plants without harming the plants. - WRONG. Other alternative is beyond scope of the passage.
(B) When the fungicide is sufficiently diluted it does not present any risk of harm to people, animals. or beneficial insects. - Irrelevant. Only Powdery mildew elimination is concerned.
(C) Powdery mildew is the only fungal infection that affects rose plants. - WRONG. Irrelevant.
(D) If a fungicide is to be effective against powdery mildew on rose plants, it must eliminate the powdery mildew completely. - WRONG. Eliminating completely is not needed.
(E) The effectiveness of the fungicide does not depend on its being more concentrated than one part in ten parts of water. - CORRECT. The concentration is enough to eliminate PM i.e. no more than that is required.
Answer E.
_________________
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) There is not an alternative method, besides application of this fungicide. for eliminating powdery mildew from rose plants without harming the plants. - WRONG. Other alternative is beyond scope of the passage.
(B) When the fungicide is sufficiently diluted it does not present any risk of harm to people, animals. or beneficial insects. - Irrelevant. Only Powdery mildew elimination is concerned.
(C) Powdery mildew is the only fungal infection that affects rose plants. - WRONG. Irrelevant.
(D) If a fungicide is to be effective against powdery mildew on rose plants, it must eliminate the powdery mildew completely. - WRONG. Eliminating completely is not needed.
(E) The effectiveness of the fungicide does not depend on its being more concentrated than one part in ten parts of water. - CORRECT. The concentration is enough to eliminate PM i.e. no more than that is required.
Answer E.
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conclusion= fungicide can eliminate mildew from rose plants that involves no risk of harming the plants if sufficiently diluted
reason= fungicide is effective against mildew and have capacity to remove it from rose.
it needs to diluted in 10 parts water to 1 parts fungicide.
A even if there is alternative, this method still works.
B not relevant
C even if there are other, it can still remove the mildew. so no harm
D how much should it remove is not concern here.
E if the effectiveness depends on more than given concentration then it will hurt the garden plants. so they are assuming that for rose it will be the same. perfect
reason= fungicide is effective against mildew and have capacity to remove it from rose.
it needs to diluted in 10 parts water to 1 parts fungicide.
A even if there is alternative, this method still works.
B not relevant
C even if there are other, it can still remove the mildew. so no harm
D how much should it remove is not concern here.
E if the effectiveness depends on more than given concentration then it will hurt the garden plants. so they are assuming that for rose it will be the same. perfect
Bunuel
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can someone elaborate more on option E. I didnt understand completely what it says
Bunuel
Bunuel
Answer: E
The argument concludes that when sufficiently diluted (at least 10:1 water to fungicide), the fungicide eliminates powdery mildew without harming rose plants. This relies on the unstated assumption that the fungicide remains effective at that dilution. If effectiveness required a stronger concentration, dilution would render it useless. Option (E) captures this by stating the fungicide’s effectiveness does not depend on a concentration stronger than 1:10.
AbhishekP220108
Option (E) means: The fungicide still works when it is diluted to the safe level (1 part fungicide to 10 parts water).
The argument says:
1. It’s safe for plants if diluted to at least 10:1 water to fungicide.
2. It can completely eliminate powdery mildew.
3. Therefore, if diluted enough, it eliminates mildew without harming plants.
But this only works if the fungicide is still effective at that dilution. If it needed to be stronger to work, then diluting it would make it useless.
So (E) is the unstated assumption that the fungicide’s power doesn’t depend on being stronger than the 10:1 dilution.
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