Graduation Management Aptitude Test - GMAT

Unsolicited electronic junk mail, also termed spam, has hurt companies by both drainingcompany resources used to combat the problem and diminishing employee productivity.

Though the truism about Inuits having a hundred words for snow is an exaggeration, languages really are full of charming quirks that reveal the character of a culture. Dialects of Scottish Gaelic, for instance, traditionally spoken in the Highlands and, later on, in fishing villages, have a great many very specific words for seaweed, as well as names for each of the components of a rabbit snare and a word for an egg that emerges from a hen sans shell. Unfortunately for those who find these details fascinating, languages are going extinct at an incredible clip, - one dies every 14 days - and linguists are rushing around with tape recorders and word lists, trying to record at least a fragment of each before they go. The only way the old tongues will stick around is if populations themselves decide that there is something of value in them, whether for reasons of patriotism, cultural heritage, or just to lure in some language-curious tourists. But even when the general public opinion is for preservation of their linguistic diversity, linguists are finding it increasingly difficult to achieve such a task.

Mathematicians can help linguists out in this mission. To provide a test environment for programs that encourage the learning of endangered local languages, Anne Kandler and her colleagues decided to make a mathematical model of the speakers of Scottish Gaelic. This was an apposite choice because the local population was already becoming increasingly conscious about the cultural value of their language and statistics of the Gaelic speakers was readily available. The model the mathematicians built not only uses statistics such as the number of people speaking the languages, the number of polyglots and rate of change in these numbers but also figures which represent the economic value of the language and the perceived cultural value amongst people. These numbers were substituted in the differential equations of the model to find out the number of new Gaelic speakers required annually to stop the dwindling of the Gaelic population. The estimate of the number determined by Kandler’s research helped the national Gaelic Development Agency to formulate an effective plan towards the preserving the language.  

Many languages such as Quechua, Chinook and Istrian Vlashki can be saved using such mathematical models. Results from mathematical equations can be useful in strategically planning preservation strategies. Similarly mathematical analysis of languages which have survived against many odds can also provide useful insights which can be applied towards saving other endangered languages.

The Author’s conclusion that ‘languages such as Quechua, Chinook, and Istrian Vlashki can be saved using such mathematical models’ (beginning of last para.) is most weakened if which of the following is found to be true?

Mathematical analysis of specific problem solving strategies offer limited insight, largely because of the wide variety of types and topics of questions and due to the lack of an objective way to classify them by strategy.

Recently, hopes that the European Central Bank will reach a deal to help  Spain and Italy borrow at cheaper rates has nudged financial markets higher.

Among the 2,300 sources of GMAT websites Plank has mapped so far, nothing resembles the GMATclub, that stretches across more than required information on questions and the information on admissions. 

Alan alone can build (1/x) ^th of a wall in 1 day. If Alan & Mike together can build the entire wall in 2 days, then what fraction of the wall can Mike alone build in 1 day?

Art experts have attributed the enduring intrigue of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa toeverything from having an enigmatic smile, which was never explained, to her association withthe rich and powerful families of Europe.

According to anthropologists, the use of human language covers a wide spectrum frompractical communication between people engaged in the same task to establishing hierarchywithin a social group.

How many keystrokes are needed to type numbers from 1 to 1000?

In the next few weeks, both the Wizius Careers and the Procation is planning to release independent, and possibly conflicting, reports about online testing.