ANALYZE THE STIMULUS:

Fact: Printwell’s Ink Jet Division manufactures both ink-jet printers and the ink cartridges they use.
Fact: Sales of its ink-jet printers have increased.
Fact: But monthly revenues from those sales have not increased, because competition has forced Printwell to cut the prices of its printers.
Fact: Printwell has been unable to bring down the cost of manufacturing a printer.
Conclusion: Despite the increase in printer sales, the Ink Jet Division must be providing the company with much smaller than it used to.

Pre-thingking: We know: Ink Jet Division revenues = revenues from printer sales + revenues from cartridges sales. The argument says ONLY “revenues from printers sales have NOT increased”, and concludes that “Ink Jet Division TOTAL revenues must be smaller”. To weaken this argument, we can show that even though revenues from printers sales DECREASES, but revenues from cartridges sales INCREASE ==> Total revenues will not be smaller.

ANALYZE EACH ANSWER:

A. Ink-jet printers in regular use frequently need new ink cartridges, and Printwell’s printers only accept Printwell’s ink cartridges.
Correct. A states that it’s possible that revenues from cartridges sales will increase. KEY word “in regular use frequently”.

B. Unlike some competing companies, Printwell sells all of its printers through retailers, and these retailers’ costs account for a sizable proportion of the printers’ ultimate retail price.
Wrong. B may strengthen the conclusion (. The retailers’ cost is additional cost that makes a negative effect for the Ink Jet Division.

C. Some printer manufacturers have been forced to reduce the sale price of their ink-jet printers even more than Printwell has.
Wrong. Ink Jet Division’s revenue may be still smaller if its sales from printers and cartridges do not increases. The argument clearly states that “revenue from printers sales have not increased”, so the fact that other manufactures reduces their printers prices DOES NOT affect the conclusion.

D. In the past year, no competing manufacturer of ink-jet printers has had as great an increase in unit sales of printers as Printwell has.
Wrong. We do not talk about “the past”. D is out.

E. In the past year, sales of Printwell’s ink-jet printers have increased more than sales of any other type of printer made by Printwell.
Wrong. Same as D. In this case, the fact in the past does not help you weaken a conclusion that talks about the future.