Multiple choice

In July 2002, the Indian airline's flights, serving Delhi-Mumbai route, substantially reduced the price of tickets for the flights. During the months, subsequent to the reduction, the number of tickets sold to Mumbai increased to well above the monthly average for the previous year. Despite this fact, the number of tickets sold by Indian airlines to Mumbai was not noticeably different from the previous year's total.

Which of the following, if true, best explains the apparent paradox in the passage above?

  1. Many Indians travel to Mumbai only when airfares are low.

  2. The amount of revenue generated in 2002 by sales of tickets to Mumbai remained the same as it was the previous year.

  3. For first half of 2002, the number of tickets sold for Mumbai was lower than the last year's monthly average.

  4. The larger the number of tickets sold by Indian Airlines in a given one-year period, the lower the pre-ticket price during that period.

  5. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The paradox was based on a comparison of one part of the year to the whole of the previous year. By accounting for the rest of 2002, option (C) resolves the paradox.

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