If by agreement a service department must reply to any customer inquiry within 84 hours, does the last moment by which it must respond to a particular inquiry occur on a Friday?

1. The inquiry was placed on a Tuesday.
2. The inquiry was made between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 pm.

            $\{\begin{array}{c}6a-5=c\\ 7b-a=9\\ 8-c=d\end{array}$

For the system of equations given, what is the value of c?

1. $a=8$
2. $d=6$

If n and m are integers, is nm odd?

1. $n+1=m$
2. $\frac{m}{n}$ is an even integer.

The people in a room are lined up from youngest to oldest. The age of the first person is 15, and the each person thereafter is two years older than the previous person. What is the sum of ages?

1. The number of people in the room is 37.
2. The age of the last person is 87.

A box contains only pens, pencils, and pads. If an item is randomly selected from the box, what is the probability that the item will be either a pencil or a pad?

1. The probability that the item will be a pad is $\frac{1}{4}$.
2. The probability that the item will be a pen is $\frac{1}{3}$.

Consultant: Advertising in videos purchased for download has shown promise as a way to activate consumers with a specific product message. Because the long-term impact on brand perception have yet not been shown; however, I do not recommend its use at this time.

Client: Your position is inconsistent with your usual practice. You suggest many forms of advertising that are known to have a potential negative brand impact, so concern about long-term brand impact cannot be the real reason you will not recommend this form of advertising.

The client's argument is flawed because it fails to consider that

In the shipping industry, the amount of time it takes for most of a worker's occupational knowledge and skills to become obsolete has been declining because of the introduction of wearable computing devices, such as smart watches and smart glasses. Given the rate at which wearable computing devices are currently being introduced into shipping, the average worker's old skills become obsolete and new skills are required within as little as two years.

Which of the following plans, if feasible, would allow a company to prepare most effectively for the rapid obsolescence of skills described above?

For a country to obtain the benefits of direct investment by foreign multinationals in its industries, unrestricted incentives to foreign multinationals and a high degree of support to local businesses are both necessary. While the government of Kokua is prepared to offer incentives to foreign multinationals, the population of the country would most likely demand that the national legislature place restrictions on these incentives by the next voting term.

The claims above, if true, most strongly support which of the following conclusions?

Plan: Wishing to reduce the number of citizens without health insurance, the government of Patrio decided last year to run an extensive advertising campaign that targeted young people and which described the importance of choosing and enrolling in a health insurance plan.

Result: The percentage of young people enrolled in a health insurance plan has not increased.

Further information: Most young people in Patrio saw and remembered the advertising. Moreover, surveys revealed that more young people after the campaign believed that it was important to choose and enroll in a health insurance plan.

In light of the further information, which of the following, if true, does most to explain the result that followed implementation of the plan?

In a price war, each of multiple suppliers of highly competitive products and services repeatedly lowers its price to avoid being undercut and thereby losing sales and customers to its competitors. Due to these competitive pressures, the companies involved generally reduce their prices far more than they otherwise would, even to the point where none of the companies is able to make a profit on sales. A price war is usually detrimental to all companies involved, who will profit from reasonable but higher costs, but at the same time a company cannot always afford to let a competitor lower price without matching or lowering beyond that price.

Assuming that none of the competitors can be knocked out of the market, it should be expected that _______________.

An online retailer that makes its deliveries through a private shipping company has determined that, unlike before, now it can profitably begin making deliveries seven days a week, not just six days a week. Delivering a given number of shipments within a narrower window of time tends to be more cost effective, because, on average, delivery trucks will be able to exploit economies in their driving routes and will incur lower average shipping costs per dollar of delivered goods per hour. Nevertheless, the retailer expects profits to rise with the change.

Which of the following, if true, provides the best reason for the expectation?

A restaurant owner plans to replace the restaurant's tables and chairs, which are currently of a generic design, with sturdier models from a manufacturer in Maine. The newer tables and chairs are more expensive, but they are extremely durable, so the owner expects to have to replace them far less frequently, saving money in the long term.

Which of the following must be studied in order to evaluate the argument presented above?

A technical proposal has been advanced for a transportation system in which individuals travel through tubes in pressurized capsules on a cushion of air. One individual in a capsule, according to the proposal, will be able to travel up to ten times as fast as an automobile on a highway. Such a futuristic means of conveyance would surely be thrilling for individuals, but the cost of building the new transport tube between two major cities has been estimated at six billion dollars. Even if this doubtful cost figure is accurate, it represents a waste of money. The cost of maintaining the existing roads between the two cities in question is negligible compared to the cost of building the tube, and those six billion dollars can be dedicated to more vital public works projects.

Which of the following, if true, most severely weakens the argument presented above?

Last year, Energy Corp's oil sales increased suddenly in the region of lower Ossamia. The Chief Financial Officer of the company explained this increase as the result of industrialization in the developing Ossamian nation of Mirmu. He predicts that, consequently, trade made possible by industrialization will grow between Mirmu and its Ossamian neighbors this year, leading to further increases in Energy Corp sales in the region.

Each of the following, if true, provides some support for the CFO's prediction described above EXCEPT:

Two fitness experts have developed a remarkable exercise system that appears to yield immediate and prolonged improvements to a person's physical and mental health. In careful testing, they have found that the system is accessible to people of different ages and fitness levels. Furthermore, since the system involves unusual techniques, custom pieces of small equipment, and natural dietary supplements, the system would take years for competitors to replicate. And when they tested the system during a two-month trial, potential customers stated emphatically that they would pay the stated prices to continue in the system and that they preferred it over other forms of exercise. All evidence indicates that the new exercise system will have successful launch in the market.

Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument?

For our nation to maintain a position of economic strength relative to other countries, it requires both accelerated personal investment levels and the unobstructed growth of production capacity, the factor which is known as A by economists and which grows largely spontaneously through society's development of technology. However, since technology development can be driven through economic support to individual entrepreneurs, ensuring these two key economic outcomes will require balancing these two kinds of financial incentives from the government to the individual.

If the statements in the passage above are true, for our nation to maintain a position of economic strength relative to other countries, it must

A study this year found that, among citizens of Tamalia whose tax reports were selected at random for an audit, 21 percent had prepared their taxes with the assistance of a tax accountant. However, among those whose audits uncovered indications of potential tax fraud, only 3 percent had prepared their taxes with the assistance of a tax accountant. Clearly, citizens of Tamalia who prepare their taxes without the assistance of a tax accountant are more likely to commit tax fraud.

The conclusion drawn above depends on which of the following assumptions?

Some companies that consume large quantities of oil keep their own oil reserves for years in which average oil prices are exceptionally high. Thus, at times when oil prices are quite high, they can partially deplete their reserves, using oil that they bought earlier at lower prices, with the intention of buying oil to add back to their reserves when average oil prices are lower. Nevertheless, last year, when average oil prices were astronomically high throughout the year for geopolitical reasons, not all of these companies partially depleted their reserves.

Which of the following, if true, best explains why not all of these companies partially depleted their reserves?

The design of an article of clothing generally cannot be patented, but functional aspects or devices attached to clothing or included as attributes of clothing can usually be patented. Therefore, the design of a website selling fashion accessories should not be patentable, but the programming of that website, it if is unique, should be patentable.

Which of the following statements, if true, would most strengthen the argument above?

It is the opinion of the student council that the school's strict proctoring guidelines, which sometimes create situations in which a student may have to take three final exams in quick succession, can be done away with. If, as most faculty appear to believe, take-home exams, which are not proctored anyway, are the only exams on which students might actually dare cheat, then by doing away with the proctoring requirements, the school would allow students to schedule their own final exams without damaging the integrity of these exams. The fact that there is a very small percentage of students who are liable to attempt to cheat on a final exam when they take it within the school's walls is really a separate issue.

In the argument above, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?