GMAT
Paint on a new airliner is usually applied in two stages: first, a coat of primer, and then a top coat. A new process requires no primer, but instead uses two layers of the same newly developed coating, with each layer of the new coating having the same thickness and weight as a traditional top coat. Using the new process instead of the old process increases the price of a new aircraft considerably.Which of the following, if true, most strongly indicates that it is in an airline's long-term economic interest to purchase new airliners painted using the new process rather than the old process?
Archaeologists in Michigan have excavated a Native American camp near Dumaw Creek. Radiocarbon dating of animal bones found at the site indicates that the camp dates from some time between 1605 and 1755. However, the camp probably dates to no later than 1630, since no European trade goods were found at the site, and European traders were active in the region from the 1620's onward.Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
Hutonian Government Official: Federal law requires truck drivers to take a long break after driving for ten hours, but truck drivers frequently do not comply. Since the public rest areas along our highways cannot accommodate all the drivers needing a break, we plan to build more rest areas to increase the rate of compliance.Hutonian Business Representative: But if the parking lots around our businesses are considered, there are more than enough parking places.Which of the following, if true about Hutonia, would provide a reason for persisting with the government official's plan despite the objection?
Every fall Croton's jays migrate south. The jays always join flocks of migrating crookbeaks with which they share the same summer and winter territories. If a jay becomes separated from the crookbeaks it is accompanying, it wanders until it comes across another flock of crookbeaks. Clearly, therefore, Croton's jays lack the navigational ability to find their way south on their own.Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
The Acme Corporation has found that improvements in its information technology infrastructure allow its employees to make more decisions that are both sound and well-informed than was previously feasible. Consequently, the corporation plans to improve employee productivity by introducing new managerial techniques that delegate much of the decision-making to lower levels of the organizational hierarchy. Managers will simply set clear standards and guidelines and then allow employee teams to undertake tasks without centralized control.Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support a prediction that the Acme Corporation's plan will achieve its goal?
The recent rise of low-cost airlines in Country Y has led to great increases in the number of air travelers and flights. However, a “hidden cost” of flying and certain other forms of travel is the significant amount of air pollution, which contributes to global warming. To make people pay these hidden costs—and in the process discourage the explosive growth in flying—the government of Country Y plans to impose fees on all air travel. There is a problem, however, in that many residents of Country Y would then use automobile transportation instead, without paying the hidden costs of the resulting air pollution.Which of the following additions to the government's plan would be likely to help most in overcoming the problem referred to in the final sentence above?
Letter to the editor: Our city plans to allow major commercial development along the south waterfront and, in so doing, to increase its tax revenue.But, to succeed commercially, the development would inevitably create far more road traffic than the existing roads to the waterfront can handle, causing serious congestion. Providing enough roads or public transportation to the area would cost far more than the city could gain from the increased tax revenue.Which of the following, if added to the city's plan, would be most likely to help solve the problem the letter describes?
Pretzel vendor: The new license fee for operating a pretzel stand outside the art museum is prohibitively expensive. Charging typical prices, a vendor would need to sell an average of 25 pretzels per hour to break even. At my stand outside city hall, I average only 15 per hour. Therefore, I could not break even running a pretzel stand outside the art museum, much less turn a profit.Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the pretzel vendor's argument?