Five years ago, the local university built two new dormitories through different contractors: Aleph Construction and Gimmel Builders. The buildings were nearly identical, though it cost Gimmel Builders approximately 20 percent more to construct their dorm

The writer of the argument concludes that the university should choose Aleph Construction to build new dormitory since it costs less to construct a dormitory; however, it needs more money spending on maintenance. I would think that this conclusion cannot be accepted as it is in that it rests on a number of premises all of which can be challenged in one way or another; moreover it dismisses some assumptions which are important to draw an accurate conclusion.

The first problem with the argument is that the author assumes that lower difference between percentages means lower difference between real numbers. This notion is not tenable mathematically. It is possible that overall cost that Gimmel Buildrs puts on the university would be less than Aleph Construction. Therefore, the author should consider the real numbers to decide which contractor is more cost efficient. Moreover, by considering the time value of money, it might turn out that the other contractor cost more money.

The second problem with the argument is that the conclusion is based on the fact that these two contractors offer the same prices for construction as they did five years ago. It is more reasonable to contact the contractors and realize the new prices. Not only the price of construction is important, but also the price of maintenance matters is notable.

The third problematic issue about the argument is that the author supposed that the university has to choose just between these two contractors. Probably there would be other contractors that can build a dorm with less cost. It is better for university to consider other options.

Ultimately, while the presented hypothesis is interesting, I would think that according to the above explanations, it suffers from lack of accuracy. The result of the research can only be accepted if the weaknesses already referred to are all removed.