UPSC Prelims 2014 CSAT Paper II · Q37 of 65 Data Interpretation medium

Passage

Directions for the following 4 (four) items : The following graph shows the average profit of two fruit-sellers A and B in thousands (₹) per year from the year 1995 to 2000. Consider the graph and answer the 4 (four) items that follow :

What is the trend of the average profit of B from the year 1997 to the year 2000 ?

  1. (a) Non-increasing
  2. (b) Non-decreasing ✓ UPSC's answer
  3. (c) Steady
  4. (d) Fluctuating

Why the answer is (b)

• The graph indicates that the average profit of seller B in 1997 is lower than in 1998.

• The profit for B in 1998 is lower than in 1999.

• The profit for B in 1999 is lower than in 2000.

• Since the profit values rise consistently from 1997 to 2000 without any decline, the trend is strictly increasing.

• A strictly increasing sequence is a subset of a non-decreasing sequence.

• Therefore, the trend is non-decreasing.

Why the other options are wrong

(a) Non-increasing
The profit of B increases every year from 1997 to 2000, so it is not non-increasing.
(c) Steady
The profit values change significantly each year rather than remaining constant, so the trend is not steady.
(d) Fluctuating
The profit moves in only one direction (upward) without alternating between increases and decreases, so it is not fluctuating.

Asked in the CSAT Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2014, held on 24 August 2014. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

Reading the answer is not the same as getting it right under a clock. Practise this question with UPSC's negative marking, and anything you miss goes into an error notebook until you get it right twice.

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