1. The downtown shopping mall in Metroville is struggling to attract shoppers, and many of its retail spaces are now vacant. In order to attract enough new retailers to generate the revenue necessary to prevent the mall from closing, the mall owners plan to add free amenities such as a dog run and an ice rink to entice shoppers into the mall.
Which of the following would, if true, most strongly support the claim that the mall owners' plan, once implemented, would fail to achieve its goal?
(A) Many Metroville residents frequent the town's existing outdoor dog runs and ice rink.
(B) Monthly operating costs for the proposed new amenities would exceed the total monthly revenue that the mall owners could gain from contracts for use of the vacant retail spaces.
(C) If the amenities do not attract enough new retailers to generate significant revenue, the mall will have to close.
(D) New retailers will not rent the vacant retail spaces at the mall unless more visitors start frequenting the mall.
(E) Currently, Metroville residents who visit the nearest dog runs and ice rinks usually do not go shopping during the same outing.
2. Brant Lumber employs numerous workers to saw logs into boards. Brant is considering refitting its sawmill with computerized log-cutting machines that would saw the logs automatically and that would increase the number of logs the sawmill could process per day. The refit would allow Brant to reduce its workforce, but it would not increase the sawmill’s output, since the sawmill already processes as many logs per day as Brant's timber sources can supply.
Which of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the analysis of the effects of the refit on the sawmill’s output?
(A) The computerized log-cutting machines cost far more to purchase than the machines currently installed in the sawmill did when they were new.
(B) Replacing some of the workers at the sawmill with computerized log-cutting machines would enable Brant to increase profits, even though those machines would not be used to capacity.
(C) By relocating the sawmill instead of refitting it, Brant would be able to increase the supply of lops available for the sawmill to process into boards.
(D) Less of a log is wasted when it is cut into boards by computerized log-cutting machines than when it is cut into boards by workers using the sawmill’s current equipment.
(E) The computerized log-cutting machines can be adjusted far more quickly to cut boards of different dimensions than can the sawmill’s current equipment.