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Difficulty: EasyIdentifying Unstated Assumptions

An international airline recently decided to replace heavy printed inflight magazines with digital versions accessible via passengers' personal mobile devices. Management claims that removing the printed magazines will significantly reduce the aircraft's weight and overall fuel consumption during flights. Therefore, management concludes that the airline's total operating expenses will decrease starting next month. Which of the following is an assumption on which the management's conclusion depends?

  1. The operational costs required to provide and maintain the digital magazine platform will be less than the monetary savings achieved from reduced fuel consumption.Answer
  2. B
    Fuel consumption represents the single largest component of the airline's overall operating expenses.
  3. C
    A majority of the airline's passengers prefer reading digital content on personal devices rather than reading physical print magazines.
  4. D
    Global jet fuel prices will remain completely stable throughout the entire upcoming fiscal year.
  5. E
    Installing digital server equipment on the aircraft will add more weight than was removed by eliminating printed magazines.

Answer

The operational costs required to provide and maintain the digital magazine platform will be less than the monetary savings achieved from reduced fuel consumption.
The conclusion asserts that total operating expenses will decline because fuel consumption drops. For a net decrease in total expenses to occur, the new expenses created by switching to digital magazines must not exceed the savings in fuel costs. If digital platform maintenance costs more than the saved fuel money, total operating expenses would actually rise or stay equal, completely undermining the conclusion.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the premises and conclusion of the argument.
Premises: Removing printed magazines reduces weight and fuel consumption. Conclusion: Total operating expenses will decrease starting next month.
Understanding the logical bridge between fuel savings and net expense reduction is essential to identifying the logical gap.
2
Identify the unstated logical gap.
The argument assumes that saving money on fuel will not be offset by new costs associated with the digital alternative.
Lowering one expense line item does not guarantee lower total expenses if a new expense is higher than the savings.
3
Apply the Negation Test to verify the assumption.
If digital platform costs are equal to or greater than fuel savings, total operating expenses will not decrease, causing the conclusion to fall apart.
A necessary assumption must shatter the conclusion when logically negated.

Key Concept

Identifying Unstated Assumptions via Negation Test
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Topics

Identifying Unstated Assumptions

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