SC GPrep

[exit8284bk]

Africa’s black rhino population in the mid-1970’s numbered about 2,000, ten times the estimated population of 2,000 in 1997.
A. the estimated population
B. that of their estimated population
C. more than the population’s estimated amount
D. more black rhinos than their population estimate
E. more than that of their population’s estimated amount

[kylo]

IMO A.



Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

Africa’s black rhino population in the mid-1970’s numbered about 2,000, ten times the estimated population of 2,000 in 1997.
A. the estimated population
B. that of their estimated population
C. more than the population’s estimated amount
D. more black rhinos than their population estimate
E. more than that of their population’s estimated amount

first:
something is mistranscribed here; 2000 is not ten times 2000.

second:
what's your question?
with which answer choice did you have problems?

--

brief synopsis:

(e) is just ridiculous. if you looked at (e) for more than two seconds without rejecting it, you should go read a large number of correct OG answers (don't solve the problems - just read the answers) and familiarize yourself with the writing style. they will never be remotely as wordy as choice (c).
also:
"that of" doesn't make sense, as there's no noun in the first part of the parallelism to serve as the antecedent of "that".
"the population's amount" is either redundant or nonsensical.

(d)
wordy.
unnecessary repetition of "black rhinos".

(c)
same problem with "amount" as in (e).

(b)
same problem with "that of" as in (e).

[cesar.rodriguez.blanco]

In my opinion, the numbers have no sense:
In the mid 70's numbered about 2000, ten times_____of 2000 in 1997
and that is the reason why I did not picked A, but none of the questions make sense.

Second, can "that" refer to "Africa's black Rhino population"?
Anyway, B would be wordy: "ten times Africa's black Rhino population of their estimated population"

[RonPurewal]

In my opinion, the numbers have no sense:
In the mid 70's numbered about 2000, ten times_____of 2000 in 1997
and that is the reason why I did not picked A, but none of the questions make sense.

yes, something is wrong with the numbers. this was noted in my post above.

Second, can "that" refer to "Africa's black Rhino population"?
Anyway, B would be wordy: "ten times Africa's black Rhino population of their estimated population"

nope.

you can't have "that of X" unless there's something to which it can be parallel.
if the second half is "that of their population", then you have to have 2 parallel items in the first half:
* the population's X, or X of the population (to correspond to "that of")
* the population of something plural (to correspond to "their")

you don't have either of these things in this sentence. so wrong all the way.

[pradeepchandy]

Even though I chose A

in option A

the phrase "estimated population of 2000" seems to be incorrect
Shouldnt it be "population estimate of 2000"


"estimated population of 2000" some how means population of a place called 2000 - absurd

[RonPurewal]

the phrase "estimated population of 2000" seems to be incorrect
Shouldnt it be "population estimate of 2000"

you already know that the answer to this question is "no, this version is just fine".
on official problems, CORRECT ANSWERS ARE CORRECT. do not question the official correct answers!
there's nothing to gain from questioning answers that gmac propounds as correct.
if you see something in a correct answer, acknowledge that it's correct, and study it!

by the way, this use of "of", to introduce a statistic, is exceedingly common:
an unemployment rate of 9.4%
los angeles county has a population of 10 million
etc.

i understand that this may be confusing (to non-native speakers) at first, since you can also use "population of X" if X is a physical place:
the population of Bogotá is 9 million.
Bogotá has a population of 9 million.
--> both correct!

[manhhiep2509]

Africa’s black rhino population in the mid-1970’s numbered about 2,000, ten times the estimated population of 2,000 in 1997.
A. the estimated population
B. that of their estimated population
C. more than the population’s estimated amount
D. more black rhinos than their population estimate
E. more than that of their population’s estimated amount

(d)
wordy.
unnecessary repetition of "black rhinos".

Hi Ron.

I feel that "more black rhinos than" is incorrect because the sentence is comparing real numbers of the animal and the estimated numbers. But, the choice seems to compare the animal and the estimated numbers.

Is my understanding correct?

[tim]

That's exactly correct! Nice job.

[yaoL613]

hi ron
i am confused
in A
Africa’s black rhino population in the mid-1970’s numbered about 2,0000, ten times the estimated population of 2,000 in 1997.

the exact number(20000) is compared with the exact number(2000)

but if without the latter(2000),we should add the number of in front of the population.
the sentence should be
"Africa’s black rhino population in the mid-1970’s numbered about 2,0000, ten times the number of the estimated population of in 1997. "
since " ten times the number of the estimated population of in 1997" is the apposition of 20000, then we cannot compare the exact number with "population"

am i correct?
thx in advance!

[RonPurewal]

a population (in this sense)-- much like a salary, or a height, or a distance, etc.-- is a numerical quantity, so it's perfectly fine to compare it to another numerical quantity.

[gmatkiller_24]

Hi, Ron:

i just wonder whether the use of "more than" here in choice C/D/E can make sense

20,000 is exactly ten time 2,000 ( as shown in the correct choice)

by adding " more than" → it seems the intended number should be larger than 20,000 (2,000 * 10)

[RonPurewal]

--- YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW ANY OF THIS FOR THE VERBAL SECTION ---

there's a mathematical difference-- "N times more than xxxx" is the same as "N + 1 times xxxx". (e.g., "five times more than x" is actually the same thing as "six times x".)

it's probably more obvious that, say, "50 percent more than x" is the same as "150 percent of x".
but, if you understand that, you also understand the above -- it's the same thing. (5 times more than x = 500% more than x = 600% of x = 6 times x.)

--- YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW ANY OF THIS FOR THE VERBAL SECTION ---

[RonPurewal]

what you DO need to know for the verbal section is ...

• "N times xxxx" is a valid expression.

• "N times more than xxxx" is also a valid expression.

that's it.
both are valid.
neither can be eliminated.

[aflaamM589]

Sorry to dig this old one.
isn't their in BDE problematic? shouldn't it be it's ?