Q3 - The government recently released

[kmewmewblue]

I understand why (C) is correct.

I want to make sure why (D) is wrong.
I thought, even the numbers are increasing(stated in the stimulus), if the rate is decreasing(D), then it the total sales doe not have to be increasing.

Or did I make mistake for taking the word "slowed" as to "decreasing"?

Thank you in advance.

[giladedelman]

Thanks for your question!

You are slightly misreading (D), but let's hold off for a second.

The paradox here is that even though the widely publicized government study said that many bottled water drinkers are buying something less safe than tap water, sales of bottled water have continued to increase. Shouldn't sales decrease if everyone knows bottled water is inferior to free tap water?

The first thing that jumped out at me, because I am a trained LSAT geek/professional, was the word "many." We all know "many" is completely imprecise, equivalent to "some." Ok, many people are buying water that is inferior to tap water, but perhaps the study also said that most bottled water is in fact better than tap. If that were true, it would totally resolve the paradox, and that is indeed what answer (C) is getting at.

As for (D), it's saying the rate of increase slowed down, but that means sales are still increasing. Actually, I found this one kind of tempting because it suggests that maybe the study did put a dent in bottled water sales ... but it doesn't explain why sales have continued to increase. It doesn't help us say, "Oh, that's why that weird result happened."

(A) is out because that's just more bad news about bottled water.

(B) is incorrect because taste is out of scope; the question is, why are people buying more bottled water when they know some of it is worse than tap?

(E) is out of scope because it's talking about everyday foods. We only care about bottled water. (Which is not food.)

Does that clear this up?

[inesa909]

The government recently released a study of drinking water, in which it was reported that consumers who bought bottled water were in many cases getting water that was less safe than what they could obtain much more cheaply from the public water supply. In spite of the enormous publicity that the study received, sales of bottled water have continued to rise.

Which one of the following, if true, is most helpful in resolving the apparent paradox?

C) Increased consumption of the five best-selling brands of bottled water, which the report said were safer than both public water and most other brands of bottled water, accounted for the increase in sales.

D) The rate of increase in the sales of bottled water has slowed since the publication of the government body.

Even though I understand why C) is the right answer, there is nothing about D) that, I feel, would make it wrong. D) seems like a perfectly rational resolution of the paradox, in that the effects of the publication had impact by decreasing the rate of growth of sales (while not actually decreasing them).

[sumukh09]

D) actually would not be able to resolve the paradox because it's saying that the rate of increase in the sales has decreased since the publication of the study.

If we perform a numerical analysis then it may help elucidate why D) is incorrect.

Let's assume prior to the study that the rate of increased sales was 12% ie) bottled water was selling at an increased rate of 12% per month for example.

Month 1: 100 bottles sold
Month 2: 112 bottles sold [100 x 12%]
etc.

Now, after the publication people are more aware of the safety implications regarding the purchase of bottled water. D) says that the rate has slowed which conforms to the findings of the study ie) that bottled water is less safe than publicly supplied water. Let's assume that the increased sales rate has slowed to 9%

Month 3: 122 bottles sold [112 x 9%]
Month 4: 133 bottles sold [122 x 9%]
etc.

These figures are less than what they would have been if the publication was not released because water bottles would still be selling at a rate of 12%. So D) does not help resolve the paradox since it implies that less water bottles are being sold, albeit still at an increasing rate, than would have been if it were not for the publication of the study.

[marshal_of_grey]

D) actually would not be able to resolve the paradox because it's saying that the rate of increase in the sales has decreased since the publication of the study.

...


These figures are less than what they would have been if the publication was not released because water bottles would still be selling at a rate of 12%. So D) does not help resolve the paradox since it implies that less water bottles are being sold, albeit still at an increasing rate, than would have been if it were not for the publication of the study.

Doesn't this resolve the paradox then? Sales are increasing, but they're not increasing by as much as they were, because now they know bottled water is dangerous.

[sumukh09]

D) actually would not be able to resolve the paradox because it's saying that the rate of increase in the sales has decreased since the publication of the study.

...


These figures are less than what they would have been if the publication was not released because water bottles would still be selling at a rate of 12%. So D) does not help resolve the paradox since it implies that less water bottles are being sold, albeit still at an increasing rate, than would have been if it were not for the publication of the study.

Doesn't this resolve the paradox then? Sales are increasing, but they're not increasing by as much as they were, because now they know bottled water is dangerous.

D still doesn't address why people are drinking bottled water over the cheap public supply of water. Also, the stim says the sales of bottled water have continued to rise which is in opposition to what's stated in D. D says sales have slowed, whereas in the stim we know sales have continued to rise.

[marshal_of_grey]

D) actually would not be able to resolve the paradox because it's saying that the rate of increase in the sales has decreased since the publication of the study.

...


These figures are less than what they would have been if the publication was not released because water bottles would still be selling at a rate of 12%. So D) does not help resolve the paradox since it implies that less water bottles are being sold, albeit still at an increasing rate, than would have been if it were not for the publication of the study.

Doesn't this resolve the paradox then? Sales are increasing, but they're not increasing by as much as they were, because now they know bottled water is dangerous.

D still doesn't address why people are drinking bottled water over the cheap public supply of water. Also, the stim says the sales of bottled water have continued to rise which is in opposition to what's stated in D. D says sales have slowed, whereas in the stim we know sales have continued to rise.

D does not say that sales have slowed. It only says that the rate of increase has slowed. Sales could have been increasing by 12% each month before the report was released, and once the report was released it could have dropped to 9% per month, which is a decrease in the rate of increase in sales but not a decrease in the number of bottles sold per month. Such a situation is fully compatible with everything established by the stim and stem: fewer more bottles of water are sold each month relative to the months before the report (9% more each month vs. 12%) because of the report but sales are nevertheless increasing (a 9% per month increase is still an increase in absolute sales even if it's a decrease in the rate of increase of sales per month).

[sumukh09]

D does not say that sales have slowed. It only says that the rate of increase has slowed. Sales could have been increasing by 12% each month before the report was released, and once the report was released it could have dropped to 9% per month, which is a decrease in the rate of increase in sales but not a decrease in the number of bottles sold per month. Such a situation is fully compatible with everything established by the stim and stem: fewer more bottles of water are sold each month relative to the months before the report (9% more each month vs. 12%) because of the report but sales are nevertheless increasing (a 9% per month increase is still an increase in absolute sales even if it's a decrease in the rate of increase of sales per month).

I see your point, but D still does not address the second half of the paradox - remember your task in a paradox question, you're supposed to find an answer choice that reconciles two seemingly contradictory pieces of information. In this question, sales of bottled water have continued to increase even though they could use the public's supply of water which is supposedly more safe than bottled water. C hits on both sides of this as it says the increase in sales is only limited to the five best selling brands of water which are apparently more safer than the public supply; given this answer choice, the paradox is resolved since it creates a situation where the discrepancy in the stimulus can plausibly co-exist ie) public supply is cheaper/more safe + bottled water still increased in sales.

Answer choice D fails to do this.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Great discussion so far! I'd like to chime in with my own perspective... We're being asked to help explain why sales of bottled water continued to increase, even though for some people (not necessarily the ones for which sales increased) bottled water is less safe than water available from the public water supply. sumukh09 is right that on paradox questions, it's important that we explain how both factors could happen simultaneously--stay clear of answers that explain one of the two factors, but not the simultaneous occurrence of both.

There are two ways that come to mind rather quickly for why bottled water would see increased sales, even though many people could have access to safer water through the public water supply. First, maybe it's the people for whom public water is not safe that are the ones driving the increased sales of bottled water. Second, maybe some bottled water is safer than that available in the public water supply and sales of that water are where the increase is occurring. Answer choice (C) addresses the latter issue and helps to explain why bottled water sales in general are moving up.

Incorrect Answers
(A) fails to address why sales of bottled water would have increased.
(B) fails to offer a reason why people would want to purchase bottled water.
(D) suggests that sales of bottled water are still increasing, but doesn't explain why.
(E) is out of scope. We are addressing the sale of bottled water, not food.

[jrnlsn.nelson]

This question is from section 4, not section 2. Question #3 from section 2 is about deer mice.