Self-study
Computer store manager: Support Last year we made an average of 13 percent profit on the high-end computer models—those priced over $1,000—that we sold, Support while low-end models—those priced below $1,000—typically returned at least 25 percent profit. █████ █████ ██ █ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████ ████ █████ ████████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ████ █████
Summarize Argument
The manager concludes that the store should only sell low-end computers because they bring in more money as a percentage of their price, and the total number of units sold would likely remain the same as the number sold when the store sells both high-end and low-end models.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The problem with this argument is that it only establishes the models’ profit percentages and not the total earnings from the sales. If the high-end models are significantly more expensive, then a lower percentage margin would still earn the store significantly more money per sale. For example, 13% of a $1,000 model ($130) is far more than 25% of a $100 one ($25).
18.
The reasoning in the manager's ████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
a
The argument fails ██ ████████ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ████████ ████████ ██ █████████████ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ █████████
This describes the problem with the argument failing to establish the total earnings from each sale. Even if the profit margin is smaller, an expensive item can still generate a much higher profit than a cheap one.
b
The argument fails ██ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███████ ███ █████ █████████████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ █████
The number of sales last year is irrelevant because the manager’s argument is based on the prediction that the store would sell the same number of models if it sold the low-end ones exclusively.
c
The argument ignores ███ ███████████ ████ ████ █████████ ███ ████ ████ █ ████████ █████ █████████ ██ ████████ █ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ██████████ █ ████████ ██████
This is irrelevant. It only matters what customers actually purchase, not what they expect to purchase.
d
The argument presumes, ███████ █████████ ██████████████ ████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The manager seems to believe that maximizing profits is a sufficient reason to sell certain products, but doesn’t claim that it should be the store’s only objective.
e
The argument fails ██ █████████ ████ ██████ █████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██████
The manager establishes in a premise that the store would probably sell as many total models if it sold low-end computers exclusively compared to selling both low-end and high-end. This acknowledges the possibility that future sales of low-end models might not be the same as past sales of those models. In fact, the argument contemplates selling more low-end models overall by switching to low-end models exclusively.