A telephone station has x processors, each

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A telephone station has x processors, each of which can process a maximum of y calls at any particular time, where x and y are positive integers. If 500 calls are sent to the station at a particular time, can the station process all of the calls?
(1) x = 600
(2) 100 < y < 200

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Answer: A

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:56 am

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jjjinapinch wrote:A telephone station has x processors, each of which can process a maximum of y calls at any particular time, where x and y are positive integers. If 500 calls are sent to the station at a particular time, can the station process all of the calls?
(1) x = 600
(2) 100 < y < 200

Official Guide question
Answer: A
Target question: Can the station process 500 calls?
This is a good candidate for rephrasing the target question.
Each INDIVIDUAL processor can process y calls.
So, x processors can process xy calls.
So....
REPHRASED target question: Is xy ≥ 500?

Aside: Here's a video with tips on rephrasing the target question: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... cy?id=1100

Statement 1: x = 600
Since we're told that x and y are POSITIVE INTEGERS, the smallest possible value of y is 1
Even when y = 1, xy =(600)(1) = 600. So, the value of xy is AT LEAST 600.
In other words, xy ≥ 500
Since we can answer the REPHRASED target question with certainty, statement 1 is SUFFICIENT

Statement 2: 100 < y < 200
There are several values of x and y that satisfy statement 2. Here are two:
Case a: x = 1 and y = 101. in this case, xy = (1)(101) = 101. In other words, xy < 500
Case b: x = 10 and y = 101. in this case, xy = (10)(101) = 1010. In other words, xy ≥ 500
Since we cannot answer the REPHRASED target question with certainty, statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Answer: A

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Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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jjjinapinch wrote:
Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:32 am
A telephone station has x processors, each of which can process a maximum of y calls at any particular time, where x and y are positive integers. If 500 calls are sent to the station at a particular time, can the station process all of the calls?
(1) x = 600
(2) 100 < y < 200

Official Guide question
Answer: A
Solution:

We need to determine whether a certain telephone station can handle 500 calls given that it has x processors and each of which can process a maximum of y calls at any particular time, where x and y are positive integers. In other words, we need to determine whether xy ≥ 500.

Statement One Alone:

Since x = 600, and y ≥ 1, we see that xy ≥ 600 * 1 = 600, which means xy ≥ 500. Statement one alone is sufficient.

Statement Two Alone:

Statement two alone is not sufficient. For example, if x = 4 and y = 150, then xy = 600, which is more than 500. However, if x = 3 and y = 150, then xy = 450, which is less than 500.

Answer: A

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