In municipalities where home insurance delivers compensation for property destruction resulting from damage caused by natural events such as tornadoes or hurricanes (known as “acts of god”), reports of incurring such losses are a little more than three times as common as they are in municipalities where “acts of god” are not compensated. At the moment, there is no definitive way to measure whether a given event is an “act of god.” Regardless, it would be unreasonable to say, like many commentators, that in municipalities where increased numbers of “acts of god” are being reported, more than half of the reported instances are falsified. Obviously, in municipalities where home insurance does not offer compensation for property loss as a result of “acts of god,” homeowners have little reason to report “acts of god” from which they have suffered and are not helped to recover in any official capacity.

In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?

Nepenthes lowii, a pitcher plant in southeast Asia, primarily relies on insects as a source of food, but in winter, as the insect population declines, it has to supplement its diet by digesting the droppings of a species of tree shrew. Droppings, however, are not reliably available in the plant’s habitat, and Nepenthes lowii requires substantial amounts of these in order to survive the season. One possible explanation is that tree shrew droppings contain significantly more nutrients and amino acids than the insects the plant typically consumes.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the explanation given for the plant’s winter diet?

Nabil: Ongoing implementation of the city’s new directive regarding the updating of transit infrastructure to comply with recent environmental guidelines will cost the department of transportation $10 million annually. As a result, other services will be cut and deficits will increase. Therefore, this directive will significantly reduce the city’s operating budget. Natasha: The $10 million will be partially recouped by a rate increase for use of the city’s public transit services. While costs will rise, revenue will also increase.

Natasha responds to Nabil by

If is an integer, then what is the least possible value of ?

Investors heavily scrutinize the future prospects of a company when deciding whether to buy stock. If a company is expected to do well, its stock price rises; if it is not expected to profit, its stock price falls. Flyfar, Inc. was just awarded a contract to build a large fleet of airplanes for one of the major airlines. Therefore, prices of Flyfar’s stock will rise sharply today.

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

Due to efficiency concerns, store management is thinking about pulling employees from longer, eight-hour shifts and assigning them to shorter shifts of four or five hours, coinciding with periods of peak customer traffic. It makes little sense to change schedules like this, however, as studies have shown that customers are less satisfied when they shop at stores whose employees work abbreviated hours. A customer unsatisfied when shopping during peak hours is unlikely to remain a customer for very long.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument given?

Although the excavation revealed more about Iribundi culture than it had at previous archaeological sites, much remains unknown about the ancient civilization.

Though being seemingly innocent and incredibly ubiquitous, the buttercup plant causes death in humans from cardiotoxicity with a chemical that they contain in their blossoms if ingested.

Researchers still detect high amounts of radiation in the Pripyat moss, which are consistent with the predicted effects of the reactor meltdown there.

Communicative intent appears months before children develop the motor mechanisms required for speech, and scientists have conducted research into the physical gestures that function as a child’s primary form of communication for a portion of its infancy.

If is an integer greater than zero, then is

A rectangular framed mirror is shown above. The width of the mirror with the frame is inches and the frame has uniform width. What are the dimensions of the mirror without the frame?

(1) The area of the frame alone is square inches.

(2) The area of the mirror with the frame is square inches.

In , what is the length of ?

(1) The length of is .

(2) The length of is .