IPA IP 2020 Question 43
A question IPA Japan published in 令和2年度 10月 ITパスポート試験 公開問題 問43, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.
At a call center, as a system that supports operators who handle telephone inquiries from customers, AI that recognizes the speech of the conversation between a customer and an operator and displays candidate answers to the customer’s inquiry on the screen of the operator’s PC was introduced. The number of inquiries handled per day is 1,000, and they were divided into two (2) groups, A and B, according to the content of the inquiries. When the number of inquiries handled and the handling time of each group before and after AI introduction are as shown in the table, by what percentage could the time for handling the 1,000 inquiries of one day be reduced after AI introduction?
Number of inquiries handled and handling time by group before and after AI introduction
Before AI introduction
After AI introduction
Explanation
24% — weight group A’s reduction by its share of the total handling time, not by its share of the inquiries.
Take the total handling time before AI introduction as 100.
The time for the 1,000 inquiries of one day falls from 100 to 76: (100 − 76) ÷ 100 = 0.24, so it is reduced by 24%. The numbers of inquiries (500 and 500) are the same before and after, so they do not enter the calculation.
Answer (d)
Why not others:
- •(a) 15 — weights group A’s 30% reduction by its share of the inquiries (500 of 1,000) instead of its share of the time: 0.3 × 0.5 = 0.15
- •(b) 16 — a total of 84 after AI introduction would mean group A’s 80 fell by only 16, a 20% cut, not the 30% the table gives
- •(c) 20 — is group B’s share of the time before, which does not change at all
Key rule: A part’s percentage change moves the whole by that change times the part’s share of the same quantity: 30% of 80% of the time is 24% of the time.
Service Management · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.