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By analyzing the garbage of a large number of average-sized [#permalink]
04 Nov 2003, 21:24
100% (03:17) correct
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. By analyzing the garbage of a large number of average-sized households, a group of modern urban anthropologists has found that a household discards less food the more standardizedтАФmade up of canned and prepackaged foodsтАФits diet is. The more standardized a householdтАЩs diet is, however, the greater the quantities of fresh produce the household throws away.
Which of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?
(A) An increasing number of households rely on a highly standardized diet.
(B) The less standardized a householdтАЩs diet is, the more nonfood waste the household discards.
(C) The less standardized a householdтАЩs diet is, the smaller is the proportion of fresh produce in the householdтАЩs food waste.
(D) The less standardized a householdтАЩs diet is, the more canned and prepackaged foods the household discards as waste.
(E) The more fresh produce a household buys, the more fresh produce it throws away.
1. more standardized diet >>>less food is discarded
2. more standardized diet >>>more fresh food is discarded (this introduces one more component to the 'food'.
If they waste more fresh food, but the total amount of discarded food decreases, there must be something that takes a larger share of a garbage or something that decreases at a greater rate, and something which otherwise would have constituted a large proportion in the total amount of food garbage (in case of less standardized diet). That is canned food. Answer C.
Why I disregard D? In fact I did not find any mathematical flaws in this answer, but I like C more, since it is more precise.
You can not conclude that C is right just out of the inference (2) solely.
We are talking about proportions (in C) not about absolute values.
If you join inference 1 and inference 2, you'll come up to the right conclusion.
You should note that since total amount of discarded food is going UP (when standartization of a diet decreasing) and total amount of fresh produce going DOWN. -> share of fresh products in waste is decreasing
Last edited by Mikhail on 05 Nov 2003, 04:08, edited 1 time in total.
You think that we should unite inferences (1) and (2) to get C, right?
I think it is not that necessary. If we had had 20 options, uniting would have been a must. In our case, that C is correct is seen after writing Inf (2).
IF they (households) apply LESS standardized diet, THEN the households throw away LESS fresh produce (than do householdes with MORE standardized diet). =>
The less standardized a household’s diet is, the smaller is the proportion of fresh produce in the household’s food waste.
am I right assuming that you think that reasoning above is valid?