I chose (A) because I thought since the total number decreases and since the salary of dietician is higher, for the total salary to decrease, there must be more physocal therapist than dieticians...otherwise, the total salary should increase (be higher).
Or is it because since it does not mention only dietician and theraousts consist of the company (there may be other employees) so this does not have to be true?
Thank you
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Re: Q8 - At Happywell, Inc., last year
If there were only dieticians (avg - $50k) and physical therapists (avg - $42k), then the average salary for the whole company would have to be greater than $42 and less than $50.
If there were an equal number of dieticians and physical therapists, then the average salary would be $46k (46 is the average of 42 and 50).
More dieticians than therapists would tip the average above $46k. More therapists than dieticians would tip the average below $46k.
BUT ... the company average is actually $40k. So we know from that there MUST be other employees besides just the dieticians and therapists. And the average salary of those other employees must be BELOW $40k.
You need that 'under the average' weight so that when we include the 'over the average' salaries of the dieticians and therapists, it balances out to $40k.
Just wanted to cover those average concepts at first ...
In terms of (A), there's no way to make any inference about the # of dieticians vs. therapists. If they were the only two categories of employees like we were discussing at the beginning, then we could possibly make an inference. But since there must be other, lower-paid employees, there's no way to make any inference about the comparative amount of D's vs. PT's.
(B) We're dealing with averages, so it's perfectly compatible if some PT's made more than some D's. That can be true, while the avg. salary for a D is still higher than the avg. salary for a PT.
(C) This must be true. Think about what it would be saying if it WEREN'T true: "Every single employee makes $42k or higher" ... if that were true, then there's no way the avg. salary could be $40k. So there MUST be someone making less than $42k. (In fact, as we discussed earlier, there actually has to be someone making less than $40k, but that probably goes beyond the mathematical inferences LSAT expects out of law students)
(D) Doesn't have to be true. Think about its negation: "All the PT's made more money than the lowest paid D". That's perfectly fine. It's possible that all the PT's made $42k. Meanwhile, the lowest paid D could have made $30k and all the other higher paid D's bring the avg. salary for D's up to its $50k mark.
(E) This is basically the same as (D) and (B). We are dealing with avg. salaries for PT's and D's, so it's fine for either an individual PT or individual D to be the highest or lowest paid employee at the company.
Hope this helps.
If there were an equal number of dieticians and physical therapists, then the average salary would be $46k (46 is the average of 42 and 50).
More dieticians than therapists would tip the average above $46k. More therapists than dieticians would tip the average below $46k.
BUT ... the company average is actually $40k. So we know from that there MUST be other employees besides just the dieticians and therapists. And the average salary of those other employees must be BELOW $40k.
You need that 'under the average' weight so that when we include the 'over the average' salaries of the dieticians and therapists, it balances out to $40k.
Just wanted to cover those average concepts at first ...
In terms of (A), there's no way to make any inference about the # of dieticians vs. therapists. If they were the only two categories of employees like we were discussing at the beginning, then we could possibly make an inference. But since there must be other, lower-paid employees, there's no way to make any inference about the comparative amount of D's vs. PT's.
(B) We're dealing with averages, so it's perfectly compatible if some PT's made more than some D's. That can be true, while the avg. salary for a D is still higher than the avg. salary for a PT.
(C) This must be true. Think about what it would be saying if it WEREN'T true: "Every single employee makes $42k or higher" ... if that were true, then there's no way the avg. salary could be $40k. So there MUST be someone making less than $42k. (In fact, as we discussed earlier, there actually has to be someone making less than $40k, but that probably goes beyond the mathematical inferences LSAT expects out of law students)
(D) Doesn't have to be true. Think about its negation: "All the PT's made more money than the lowest paid D". That's perfectly fine. It's possible that all the PT's made $42k. Meanwhile, the lowest paid D could have made $30k and all the other higher paid D's bring the avg. salary for D's up to its $50k mark.
(E) This is basically the same as (D) and (B). We are dealing with avg. salaries for PT's and D's, so it's fine for either an individual PT or individual D to be the highest or lowest paid employee at the company.
Hope this helps.
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- tzyc
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Atticus Finch
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Re: Q8 - At Happywell, Inc., last year
Hello, thank you for the reply.
When I was reviewing...
I think I understood what you said.
Since the average should be $46k if there are only therapists and dieticians, the average of $40k means there is one earned less to decrease the average...
But I'm still not sure about (A)
As you said
Too many therapists would lower the average and it's possible it becomes $40k, isn't it??
(If there are tooo...many therapists...)
I'm a little confused...
When I was reviewing...
I think I understood what you said.
Since the average should be $46k if there are only therapists and dieticians, the average of $40k means there is one earned less to decrease the average...
But I'm still not sure about (A)
As you said
More therapists than dieticians would tip the average below $46k.
Too many therapists would lower the average and it's possible it becomes $40k, isn't it??
(If there are tooo...many therapists...)
I'm a little confused...
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- kyliecunderwood
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Vinny Gambini
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Re: Q8 - At Happywell, Inc., last year
tzyc Wrote:Hello, thank you for the reply.
When I was reviewing...
I think I understood what you said.
Since the average should be $46k if there are only therapists and dieticians, the average of $40k means there is one earned less to decrease the average...
But I'm still not sure about (A)
As you saidMore therapists than dieticians would tip the average below $46k.
Too many therapists would lower the average and it's possible it becomes $40k, isn't it??
(If there are tooo...many therapists...)
I'm a little confused...
It's possible that a large enough number of therapists would affect the overall company average, but it's not necessarily true that they would. There's always the possibility of outliers really messing with our numbers, after all.
More importantly, though, the average salary of physical therapists is higher than the company average, and therefore no matter how many of them there are they can't be the ones to bring the overall company's average below that of their own profession. If the change in numbers changed their average maybe this could happen (though it still wouldn't HAVE to be true!) but we're working with the knowledge that PTs make an average of $42,000.
So basically no, it's not possible with the information in the stimulus that too many PTs would drop the average to $40k. Just because they could lower the average doesn't mean they could do so indefinitely, and their own average serves as a pretty good minimum for how far they could take that number.
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