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- Tue Apr 26, 2016 4:27 pm
#23446
Complete Question Explanation
Flaw in the Reasoning-#%. The correct answer choice is (D)
The argument asserted by this "executive" is clearly flawed. The company needs to sell at least 100,000 books to be profitable, and because their best prospect is not likely to sell that many on its own, the exec concludes that the company's library of twelve titles will also fail to reach 100,000 sales.
The question is a rare fill-in-the-blank flaw question: the author overlooks the possibility that…
A good prephrase for this answer would be something like: …overlooks the possibility that the twelve titles together might be able to reach a sales level that any single title cannot.
Answer choice (A): The argument does not overlook this possibility—in fact, it seems that this might be in line with the executive's pessimistic perspective.
Answer choice (B): This is not an important consideration in this context. The relevant question is whether the sales goal of 100,000, the minimum that will allow the company to be profitable, is achievable.
Answer choice (C): The argument does not involve overall versus yearly profitability, but the simple questions of the feasibility of reaching a 100,000 sales level.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Clearly, the fact that a single title cannot sell the necessary 100,000 copies does not logically lead to the conclusion that the twelve titles together will fail at the same task.
Answer choice (E): This answer choice does not reflect the flaw in the executive's reasoning, and like answer choice (A), this pessimistic outcome would probably not surprise the pessimistic executive.
Flaw in the Reasoning-#%. The correct answer choice is (D)
The argument asserted by this "executive" is clearly flawed. The company needs to sell at least 100,000 books to be profitable, and because their best prospect is not likely to sell that many on its own, the exec concludes that the company's library of twelve titles will also fail to reach 100,000 sales.
The question is a rare fill-in-the-blank flaw question: the author overlooks the possibility that…
A good prephrase for this answer would be something like: …overlooks the possibility that the twelve titles together might be able to reach a sales level that any single title cannot.
Answer choice (A): The argument does not overlook this possibility—in fact, it seems that this might be in line with the executive's pessimistic perspective.
Answer choice (B): This is not an important consideration in this context. The relevant question is whether the sales goal of 100,000, the minimum that will allow the company to be profitable, is achievable.
Answer choice (C): The argument does not involve overall versus yearly profitability, but the simple questions of the feasibility of reaching a 100,000 sales level.
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Clearly, the fact that a single title cannot sell the necessary 100,000 copies does not logically lead to the conclusion that the twelve titles together will fail at the same task.
Answer choice (E): This answer choice does not reflect the flaw in the executive's reasoning, and like answer choice (A), this pessimistic outcome would probably not surprise the pessimistic executive.