Q3 - Our New Computer Network

[albertoduro1xx]

Hey guys. I was able to eliminate C, D and E and ended up choosing A. Can anyone explain to me why B is the better choice as opposed to A? Thank you in advance!

[ohthatpatrick]

Thanks for bringing this question to the forum! Let me put up a complete explanation.

Question Type: Necessary Assumption

Task: Which of the answers, if false, would most weaken the argument?

ARGUMENT CORE

conclusion - We should install the network during the day
why?
evidence - installing at night would cost more money, and saving money is important.

counterpremises - installing during the day would disrupt the employees' work, and the whole point of the new network is to improve productivity

ANALYSIS

The author wants to install during the day, so we want to think of counterarguments. What would OPPOSING COUNSEL say? Why would she argue that we should install at night instead?

There's a pretty clear angle that the argument provided, because it gave some pro's / con's to each strategy:

NIGHT INSTALL - doesn't disrupt work (+) but costs more (-)
DAY INSTALL - does disrupt work (-) but cheaper (+)

To make one decision better than the other, you'd have to weigh the pro's and con's against each other.

The author assumes DAY install is better because he thinks that cheaper installation is a bigger (+) than disrupting work is a (-).

The author also assumes that there are no other comparative negatives about installing during the day that we haven't mentioned / considered.

ANSWER CHOICES

(A) How much $ the new network equip is worth is irrelevant to DAY vs. NIGHT, because the network would have the same value either way. Eliminate.

(B) This looks like it's weighing the (+) of DAY INSTALL vs. the (-). Keep it.

(C) This seems kinda relevant, although I don't really need to delve into the details of how large the crew is when I already know that DAY install is cheaper than NIGHT install overall.

(D) This doesn't differentiate between DAY vs. NIGHT, so it's irrelevant to making that decision.

(E) This feels like it goes against the premise (it doesn't, but the fact that it even feels that way means it's not something the author NEEDS to be thinking).

The correct answer is (B).


We clinch it by seeing if negating (B) would help us weaken the decision to go with the DAY install.

Negated (B) -- the $$ we lose by disrupting work during a DAY install is AT LEAST AS MUCH as the extra money we'd pay for the NIGHT install. Thus, by going with the DAY install, we'd be (at best) breaking even with the NIGHT install. At worst, we are losing more money (in lost work) than we're saving (in installation costs).

For the previous poster, I think you were attracted to (A) because you wanted it to say
the monetary value of the employees' work disruption would not exceed the extra cost of having the equipment installed at night.

If (A) read more like that, it would be correct (but it would essentially turn into B).

Hope this helps.