More and more computer programs that provide solutions to mathematical problems in engineering are being produced, and it is thus increasingly unnecessary for practicing engineers to have a thorough understanding of fundamental mathematical principles. Consequently, in training engineers who will work in industry, less emphasis should be placed on mathematical principles so that space in the engineering curriculum will be available for other important subjects.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument given for the recommendation above?

The administrative budget in the Central Valley school district is proportional to the value of the valley’s property tax base, the chief source of funding for the school district. As revenue from property taxes increases, each budget segment of the school district is increased proportionately.

Which of the following statements, if true, is the best basis for a criticism of the Central Valley’s budgeting policy as an economically sound budgeting method for school districts?

Maas is, at best, able to write magazine articles of average quality. The most compelling pieces of evidence for this are those few of the numerous articles submitted by Maas that are superior, since Maas, who is incapable of writing an article that is better than average, obviously must have plagiarized the superior ones.

The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on which of the following grounds?

Most pain relievers come with warnings against continuous use longer than 7 consecutive days. While some people might be able to safely use a particular pain reliever for a longer period of time, many people will begin to experience side effects if the warnings are ignored.

The information above most strongly supports which of the following?

From 1994 to 2001, violent crime in New York City steadily decreased by over 50%, from a rate of 1,861 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 1994 down to 851 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2001. Criminologists have partially attributed this drop to proactive policing tactics such as “broken window policing,” wherein city officials immediately fixed small acts of vandalism and, as a result, lowered other types of criminal behavior. During this same period, the rate of violent crime in the United States steadily decreased by 28% (down to 500 violent crimes per 100,000 people).

Which of the following conclusions is best supported by the information above?

Heavy consumption of alcohol causes impaired judgment, a loss of fine motor skills, slower reaction times, a decrease in visual acuity, and other short-term symptoms. Since alcohol can be metabolized in the average person’s body at a rate of 0.015 BAC (or “blood alcohol content”) per hour, a severely intoxicated individual with a BAC of 0.15 should be symptom-free after 10 hours. After this time, if the individual exhibits similar symptoms, such symptoms cannot be caused by alcohol.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion above?

When Germany was asked to pay 132 billion gold marks in war reparations following World War I, the German government had to print money to pay its bills, drastically devaluing the currency. In response to this anticipated devaluation, Germans began spending their money while it still had purchasing power, almost completely depleting the monetary stores of domestic banks.

Which of the following, if true and taken together with the information above, best supports the conclusion that the devaluation of the German mark was likely to continue?

In an attempt to protect the environment and stop oil companies from sinking a decommissioned North Sea oil platform to the bottom of the ocean, environmental groups ringed the platform with protest boats and demanded that it be towed to land, where it could be dismantled above water. Environmentalists argued that sinking the oil platform would cause irreparable damage to the deep sea ecosystem and release into the ocean over 53 tons of oil residue and heavy metals.

Which of the following, if true, indicates the plan to tow the oil platform to land is ill-suited to the environmentalist group’s goals?

Sylvia: Some psychologists attribute complex reasoning ability to reptiles, claiming that simple stimulus-response explanations of some reptiles’ behaviors, such as food gathering, cannot account for the complexity of such behavior. But since experiments show that reptiles are incapable of making major alterations in their behavior, for example, when faced with significant changes in their environment, these animals must be incapable of complex reasoning.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by Sylvia’s argument?

The search for NEOs (or ”Near Earth Objects”) has intensified greatly within the last few years with the emergence of a virtual army of amateur astronomers. By combing their observations into a single database at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, “backyard scientists” are capable of accurately determining the orbits and motions of asteroids that could hit the Earth. Indeed, in recent years much of the burden for accurately evaluating the risks posed by NEOs has been shouldered by amateur astronomers. Therefore, we should reserve larger, professional telescopes for uses other than finding NEOs.

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

After Company K released its low-fat butter substitute into European markets for the first time, it found that it was unable to achieve any appreciable market share. To combat this problem, Company K re-released the product under a new name with great fanfare and a substantial marketing budget, calling it the “new low-fat alternative to butter.”

Which of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the effectiveness of the solution proposed above?

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have long claimed that one of the main reasons they give doctors free drug samples is so that doctors can pass the medicine along to poor patients. However, a new study shows that high-income, wellinsured individuals receive considerably more prescription drug samples than do low-income, poorly insured individuals. This is because doctors favor affluent people with health insurance.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously jeopardizes the validity of the explanation for why high-income individuals receive more free prescription drug samples than low-income individuals do?

Members of the staff at the local daycare suggest that parents would have more incentive to pick up their children on time if the parents were assessed a fine after arriving more than 10 minutes late to pick up their children.

Which of the following, assuming that it is a realistic possibility, argues the most strongly against the effectiveness of the suggestion above?

Although many seventeenth-century broadsides, popular ballads printed on a single sheet of paper and widely sold by street peddlers, were moralizing in nature, this is not evidence that most seventeenth-century people were serious about moral values. While over half of surviving broadsides contain moralizing statements, and it is known that many people purchased such compositions, it is not known why they did so, nor is it known how their own beliefs related to what they read.

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

People who have political power tend to see new technologies as a means of extending or protecting their power, whereas they generally see new ethical arguments and ideas as a threat to it. Therefore, technical ingenuity usually brings benefits to those who have this ingenuity, whereas ethical inventiveness brings only pain to those who have this inventiveness.

Which one of the following statements, if true, most strengthens the argument?

Birds need so much food energy to maintain their body temperatures that some of them spend most of their time eating. But a comparison of Mifune, a bird of a seed-eating species, to Rossi, a bird of a nectar-eating species that has the same overall energy requirement, would surely show that Mifune spends more time eating than does Rossi, since a given amount of nectar provides more energy than does the same amount of seeds.

The argument relies on which one of the following questionable assumptions?

Automobile manufacturers who began two decades ago to design passenger vehicles that were more fuel-efficient faced a dilemma because the lighter, more efficient vehicles were less safe on high-speed highways. However, the manufacturers avoided this dilemma by producing two types of passenger vehicles: a lighter vehicle for medium-speed, local transportation, and a heavier, safer vehicle for long-distance travel. Since at the time most automobile traffic was local, a net savings in fuel use was achieved with no loss in safety.

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

When a group of people starts a company, the founders usually serve as sources both of funding and of skills in marketing, management, and technical matters. It is unlikely that a single individual can both provide adequate funding and be skilled in marketing, management, and technical matters. Therefore, companies founded by groups are more likely to succeed than companies founded by individuals.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?

During the recent economic downturn, banks contributed to the decline by loaning less money. Prior to the downturn, regulatory standards for making bank loans were tightened. Clearly, therefore, banks will lend more money if those standards are relaxed.

The argument above is based on which of the following assumption?

In casual conversation, people experience little psychological discomfort in admitting that they have some particular character flaw if and only if they consider trivial the flaw to which they admit. Therefore, if in casual conversation an individual readily admits that he or she has some particular character flaw, the individual must not consider that flaw to be serious.

Which one of the following is an assumption necessary to the argument?

Environmentalist: It takes less energy to make molten glass from recycled glass than from raw materials. Once the recycled glass or raw materials have been turned into molten glass, making bottles from recycled glass follows the same process as making bottles from raw materials. Obviously, soft drink bottlers who make a large percentage of their bottles from recycled glass have significant energy savings. Therefore, by using recycled glass instead of glass made from raw materials, bottlers can lower their costs and benefit the environment at the same time.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument relies?

According to recent study data, greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-based vehicles are a major contributor to global climate instability. One plan to reduce greenhouse gases within the United States is to encourage the production of corn-based ethanol fuels. Such “biofuels” burn cleaner and therefore emit fewer harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. To encourage production, financial incentives could be given to companies to make the switch to biofuel technology.

Which of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on the effectiveness of the plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging the production of corn-based fuels?

The retail price of decaffeinated coffee is considerably higher than that of regular coffee. However, the process by which coffee beans are decaffeinated is fairly simple and not very costly. Therefore, the price difference cannot be accounted for by the greater cost of providing decaffeinated coffee to the consumer.

The argument relies on assuming which one of the following?

Researchers have recently discovered that approximately 70% of restaurant lemon wedges they studied were contaminated with harmful microorganisms such as bacteria and fungal pathogens. The researchers looked at numerous different restaurants in different regions of the country. Most of the organisms had the potential to cause infectious disease. For that reason, people should not order lemon wedges with their drinks.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion above?

Before 1986 physicists believed they could describe the universe in terms of four universal forces. Experiments then suggested, however, a fifth universal force of mutual repulsion between particles of matter. This fifth force would explain the occurrence in the experiments of a smaller measurement of the gravitational attraction between bodies than the established theory predicted.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument that there is a fifth universal force?