lheiannie07 wrote:Is Fred taller than Wilma?
(1) Fred is taller than Barney.
(2) Wilma is taller than Betty, who is taller than Barney.
Target question: Is Fred taller than Wilma?
Statement 1: Fred is taller than Barney.
No information about Wilma is given, so there's no way to answer the
target question.
Since we cannot answer the
target question with certainty, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT
Statement 2: Wilma is taller than Betty, who is taller than Barney.
No information about Fred is given, so there's no way to answer the
target question.
Since we cannot answer the
target question with certainty, statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT
Statements 1 and 2 combined
The COMBINED statements are not sufficient.
To see why, consider these two conflicting that satisfy
both statements:
Case a: the people, arranged from shortest to TALLEST are: Barney, Betty, Wilma, Fred. In this case
Fred IS taller than Wilma
Case b: the people, arranged from shortest to TALLEST are: Barney, Betty, Fred, Wilma. In this case
Fred is NOT taller than Wilma
Since we cannot answer the
target question with certainty, the combined statements are NOT SUFFICIENT
Answer: E
Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
