In Washington County, attendance at the movies is just large enough for the cinema operators to make modest profi ts. The size of the county's population is stable and is not expected to increase much. Yet there are investors ready to double the number of movie screens in the county within fi ve years, and they are predicting solid profi ts both for themselves and for the established cinema operators.
Which of the following, if true about Washington County, most helps to provide a justifi cation for the investors' prediction?
14. In Washington County, attendance at the movies is just large enough for the cinema operators to make modest profi ts. The size of the county’s population is stable and is not expected to increase much. Yet there are investors ready to double the number of movie screens in the county within fi ve years, and they are predicting solid profits both for themselves and for the established cinema operators.
Which of the following, if true about Washington County, most helps to provide a justifi cation for the investors’ prediction? (A) Over the next ten years, people in their teenage years, the prime moviegoing age, will be a rapidly growing proportion of the county’s population. (B) As distinct from the existing cinemas, most of the cinemas being planned would be located in downtown areas, in hopes of stimulating an economic revitalization of those areas. (C) Spending on video purchases, as well as spending on video rentals, has been increasing modestly each year for the past ten years. (D) The average number of screens per cinema is lower among existing cinemas than it is among cinemas still in the planning stages. (E) The sale of snacks and drinks in cinemas accounts for a steadily growing share of most cinema operators’ profi ts.
Justifying assumption is a sufficient assumption, in constrast to a necessary assumption. As such, the justifying assumption can directly lead to the conclusion in the stimulus.
A can accomplish that feat while B cannot since B needs an additional assumption - after the economy is revitalized, people will go to the cinema. If people go to night clubs instead, the argument falls apart.