The system of patent-granting, which confers

[Khush]

Maybe you're misunderstanding the term "yardstick".
"Yardstick" doesn't mean "cause". It just means that you can use one thing as a way of measuring or approximating another.
In other words, "A is a yardstick of B" means that "A" lets you make a good educated guess about "B".

In other words, it's the same as a correlation. Causation is a non-issue.

E.g., if I say "The size of someone's house is a yardstick of that person's wealth", that just means that, on the whole, richer people should have bigger houses. I don't care about causation at all.

* If I find out that, yes, people with bigger houses do tend to be richer (or vice versa), then that strengthens the notion that "big house" is a proxy of "rich".

* If I find out that people with small houses are just as likely to be rich as people with big houses, then, clearly, I've chosen a bad way to measure wealth.

Hope that makes sense.

This is extremely helpful , Ron!
splendid explanation!

[RonPurewal]

You're welcome.

[gmatkiller_24]

Hi, Ron:

I got a problem about the main purpose of this passage, and here is the question:

The passage is primarily concerned with discussing
A. a study suggesting that the semiconductor industry’s approach to patenting during the period from 1982 to 1992 yielded unanticipated results
B. a study of the semiconductor industry during the period from 1982 to 1992 that advocates certain changes in the industry’s management of the patenting process
C. the connection between patenting and innovation in the semiconductor industry during the period from 1982 to 1992
D. reasons that investment in research and development in the semiconductor industry did not increase significantly during the period from 1982 to 1992
E. certain factors that made the period from 1982 to 1992 a time of intense patenting activity in the semiconductor industry


I pick the correct choice A, but still a little bit confused about how to articulate that why C is wrong. Can you help me on this ? thank you [WARNING - the correct answer of this problem is C - editor]

[RonPurewal]

choice (c) talks about "the connection between patenting and innovation".

the author explicitly makes the point that, during the period 1982-1992, these things were NOT connected.
during that period, patenting was at an all-time high ("most feverish"), but measures of innovation didn't budge.

so (c) is white when you want black.

[RonPurewal]

oh, and, also, only the first paragraph deals with "innovation". the second paragraph deals with patent quality (which is a different thing measured in different ways), not with "innovation".

so, not only does choice (c) flip the content of the first paragraph entirely on its head, but it also fails to address the second paragraph altogether.

[gbyhats]

Hi Dear Manhattan Instructors

Which of the following, if true, would most clearly serve to weaken the author's claim about what constitutes a reasonable yardstick for measuring patent quality?

A) It is more difficult to have an article accepted for publication in the technical literature of the semiconductor industry than it is in the technical literature of most other industries
B) Many of the highest quality semiconductor patents are cited numerous times in the technical literature
C) It is difficult for someone not familiar with the technical literature to recognize what constitutes an innovative semiconductor patent
D) There were more citations made per semiconductor patent in the technical literature in the 1970's than in the 1980's
E) Low-quality patents tend to be discussed in the technical literature as frequently as high-quality patents

OA: E

I still a little confused about how to interpret choice (E), can I ask for explanation a little bit more?

--

My understanding is (let's turn this into a CR question):

The author:
I believe the number of times a patent is cited in the technical literature is a reasonable yardstick of patent quality. During the 1980’s, citations per semiconductor patent did decline. so patent quality did decline during that period.

Which of the following, if true, weaken the author's claim?

[OA]Low-quality patents are cited as frequently as high-quality patents

--

Analogy:

I'm run a bakery, and I believe the number of a particular type of bread is sold indicates the bread's popularity. Last year, bread sales per type did decline. so my bakery did becomes less attractive to customers.

Which of the following, if true, weaken my claim?

Less popular bread are sold as frequently as popular bread

--

I switch this reasoning into different scenarios, yet still confused by it.

Can you explain how the green parts comes into play (in weakening the claims)?

[RonPurewal]

it seems you're not understanding the original question.

Which of the following, if true, would most clearly serve to weaken the author's claim about what constitutes a reasonable yardstick for measuring patent quality?

think carefully about what's actually asked here. (hint: if your discussion includes the sentence starting with "During the 1980's...", then you don't understand the question.)

[gbyhats]

it seems you're not understanding the original question.

Which of the following, if true, would most clearly serve to weaken the author's claim about what constitutes a reasonable yardstick for measuring patent quality?

think carefully about what's actually asked here. (hint: if your discussion includes the sentence starting with "During the 1980's...", then you don't understand the question.)

Hahaha you are right!
After thinking about your words for a while, I realize that I was approaching this question in a wrong way!
Thank you Ron!!!

[RonPurewal]

remember-- SLOW DOWN.

if you originally misunderstood the question, that's almost certainly a result of having read it too quickly.

if you read too fast, there are two sources of trouble:
1/ the speed istelf (if you read too fast, you won't process the words properly)
2/ the psychological effect (if you mistakenly convince yourself that you need to rush, then the resulting stress will reduce the brainpower you have available to process the words)

slow = smooth. smooth = faster overall.

[garimag807]

Choice B means there's a correlation between quality and repeated publication. Therefore, choice B strengthens the idea that repeated publication is a decent proxy for quality.

Choice E suggests that there's no relationship between the two, thus implying that repeated publication is useless as a proxy/measurement of quality.

Hi Ron,
Doesn't A also weaken author's claim saying -
alternate reason for decrease in publication. However, yes we can eliminate this by negating author, who claims a relation btw no of publication and quality.

Am I right?

Little confused between option A and E

[garimag807]

oh, and, also, only the first paragraph deals with "innovation". the second paragraph deals with patent quality (which is a different thing measured in different ways), not with "innovation".

so, not only does choice (c) flip the content of the first paragraph entirely on its head, but it also fails to address the second paragraph altogether.

I am confused here between option A and C
A = study which I feel is more relevant here, discussing in detail about patent. what it is, how it is suppose to behave, how it behaved, behaving now, reason for change in behaviour etc

C = connection between two, which is also relevant here

but I am not sure what should make me choose C over A

Can you please help here

[RonPurewal]

i can't tell what you are trying to ask.

you've quoted some random text from the discussion, but that text appears to be unrelated to your question. (the quoted text describes a question for which choice C is wrong... but then you're asking why you should choose choice C.)

please...

...QUOTE THE SPECIFIC PROBLEM you're asking about
this is VERY important, since there are at least three different problems in this discussion thread.

...ask your question clearly
i.e., please write in complete sentences, and please ask a question that actually ends with '?'.

thank you.

[ZoeZ42]

choice (c) talks about "the connection between patenting and innovation".

the author explicitly makes the point that, during the period 1982-1992, these things were NOT connected.
during that period, patenting was at an all-time high ("most feverish"), but measures of innovation didn't budge.

so (c) is white when you want black.

oh, and, also, only the first paragraph deals with "innovation". the second paragraph deals with patent quality (which is a different thing measured in different ways), not with "innovation".

so, not only does choice (c) flip the content of the first paragraph entirely on its head, but it also fails to address the second paragraph altogether.

I am confused between A and C,
At first i guss C,
after reading above explanation , A is correct , C is incorrect, and another one posted in beat the gmat, as following
[redacted]



I confused further .

Would you please help how should we distinguish A and C

I don't think that main idea is a easy question, i failed most main idea questions. always confused two or three choices, and then guss, if lucky, i got it, but it not the valid way to solve the this kind of problems.


furthermore, i picked up B for following question:
"The passage suggests which of the following about patenting in the semiconductor industry during the period from 1982 to 1992 ?
A The declining number of citations per semiconductor patent in the technical literature undermines the notion that patenting activity increased during this period.
B A decline in patent quality forced firms to change the way they managed the patenting process.
C Increased efficiencies allowed firms to derive more patents from existing research and development expenditures.
D Firms' emphasis on filing patents for strategic purposes may have contributed to a decline in patent quality.
E Firms' attempts to derive more patents from existing research and development expenditures may have contributed to a decline in infringement suites."

IMO, I picked up B because the excerpt :
This decline in quality may be related to changes in the way semi-conductor firms managed their patenting process
this excerpt seems that this decline leads to change managment of parenting process.
I haven't gotten what's wrong with B.

genuinely want your reply.

thanks a million.
have a nice day.

>_~

[RonPurewal]

I am confused between A and C,
At first i guss C,
after reading above explanation , A is correct , C is incorrect, and another one posted in beat the gmat, as following
[redacted]

^^ i've done my best to explain this in the thread already. i don't really have anything to add to my previous explanations.

the most problematic thing about choice C is the word "connection" -- the whole point of the passage is that there WASN'T a connection between patenting and quality.

[RonPurewal]

furthermore, i picked up B for following question:
"The passage suggests which of the following about patenting in the semiconductor industry during the period from 1982 to 1992 ?
A The declining number of citations per semiconductor patent in the technical literature undermines the notion that patenting activity increased during this period.
B A decline in patent quality forced firms to change the way they managed the patenting process.
C Increased efficiencies allowed firms to derive more patents from existing research and development expenditures.
D Firms' emphasis on filing patents for strategic purposes may have contributed to a decline in patent quality.
E Firms' attempts to derive more patents from existing research and development expenditures may have contributed to a decline in infringement suites."

IMO, I picked up B because the excerpt :
This decline in quality may be related to changes in the way semi-conductor firms managed their patenting process
this excerpt seems that this decline leads to change managment of parenting process.
I haven't gotten what's wrong with B.

choice B is backward. the decline in quality resulted FROM the super aggressive patenting, not the other way around.