Hi jjjinapinch,
We're told that - in each game of a certain tournament - a contestant either loses 3 points or gains 2 points. We're told that Pat STARTED the tournament with 100 points. We're asked for the number of games that Pat played in the tournament. This question can be solved with a bit of 'brute force' arithmetic.
1) At the end of the tournament, Pat had 104 points
There are a number of different ways for Pat to get to a total of 104 points, starting with the simplest...
IF... Pat WON two games, then that would be 2(2) = 4 points on top of the 100 that Pat already had... and the answer to the question is 2.
IF... Pat WON five games and lost two games, then that would be 5(2) - 2(3) = 10 - 6 = 4 points on top of the 100 that Pat already had... and the answer to the question is 7.
Fact 1 is INSUFFICIENT
2) Pat played fewer than 10 games
With this Fact, we know that Pat played from 0 - 9 games in the tournament.
Fact 2 is INSUFFICIENT
Combined, we already have two examples that 'fit' both facts:
-Won 2 games and the answer to the question is 2
-Won 5 games and lost 2 games and the answer to the question is 7
Combined, INSUFFICIENT
Final Answer: E
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
