A jury pool consists of 6 men and w women. If 2 jurors are selected from the pool at random, is the probability that 2 men will be selected higher than the probability that 1 man and 1 woman will be selected?
(1) w ≥ 3
(2) w < 6
What's the best way to determine whether statement 1 is sufficient? Need any experts help please?
A jury pool consists of 6 men and w women. If 2 jurors are s
This topic has expert replies
-
- Moderator
- Posts: 426
- Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:48 pm
- Followed by:1 members
-
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 94
- Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:50 am
- Location: London, UK
- Thanked: 2 times
- Followed by:4 members
- GMAT Score:770
Hi ardz24! Great question, happy to help out. Interesting that you ask about the first statement but not the second. How did you solve the second part? Once you set up your equation for the probabilities you should take the same approach for each statement so am a bit confused as to how you can do 2 but not do 1. Let me know where you got to and if you still need help will be happy to show you how I would answer the question.ardz24 wrote:A jury pool consists of 6 men and w women. If 2 jurors are selected from the pool at random, is the probability that 2 men will be selected higher than the probability that 1 man and 1 woman will be selected?
(1) w ≥ 3
(2) w < 6
What's the best way to determine whether statement 1 is sufficient? Need any experts help please?
- GMATGuruNY
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 15539
- Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pm
- Location: New York, NY
- Thanked: 13060 times
- Followed by:1906 members
- GMAT Score:790
Statement 1:ardz24 wrote:A jury pool consists of 6 men and w women. If 2 jurors are selected from the pool at random, is the probability that 2 men will be selected higher than the probability that 1 man and 1 woman will be selected?
(1) w ≥ 3
(2) w < 6
Case 1: w=3, for a total of 9 people (6 men and 3 women)
From the 6 men, the number of ways to choose 2 = 6C2 = (6*5)/(2*1) = 15.
From the 9 people, the number of ways to choose 1 man and 1 woman = (number of options for the 1 man)(number of options for the 1 woman) = 6*3 = 18.
Since the value in blue is GREATER than the value in red, P(1 man and 1 woman) > P(2 men), with the result that the answer to the question stem is NO.
If the number of women increases, then the value in blue will also increase, while the value in red will stay the same.
Thus -- in every case -- P(1 man and 1 woman) > P(2 men), with the result that the answer to the question stem is NO.
SUFFICIENT.
Statement 2:
Case 1 also satisfies Statement 2.
In Case 1, the answer to the question stem is NO.
Case 2: w=0
In this case, the jury pool is all MEN, so P(2 men) = 100% and P(1 man and 1 woman) = 0%.
Thus, the answer to the question stem is YES.
Since the answer is NO in Case 1 but YES in Case 2, INSUFFICIENT.
The correct answer is A.
Private tutor exclusively for the GMAT and GRE, with over 20 years of experience.
Followed here and elsewhere by over 1900 test-takers.
I have worked with students based in the US, Australia, Taiwan, China, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -- a long list of countries.
My students have been admitted to HBS, CBS, Tuck, Yale, Stern, Fuqua -- a long list of top programs.
As a tutor, I don't simply teach you how I would approach problems.
I unlock the best way for YOU to solve problems.
For more information, please email me (Mitch Hunt) at [email protected].
Student Review #1
Student Review #2
Student Review #3
Followed here and elsewhere by over 1900 test-takers.
I have worked with students based in the US, Australia, Taiwan, China, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -- a long list of countries.
My students have been admitted to HBS, CBS, Tuck, Yale, Stern, Fuqua -- a long list of top programs.
As a tutor, I don't simply teach you how I would approach problems.
I unlock the best way for YOU to solve problems.
For more information, please email me (Mitch Hunt) at [email protected].
Student Review #1
Student Review #2
Student Review #3
GMAT/MBA Expert
- Brent@GMATPrepNow
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 16207
- Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pm
- Location: Vancouver, BC
- Thanked: 5254 times
- Followed by:1268 members
- GMAT Score:770
Target question: Is P(2 men) greater than P(1 man and 1 woman)?A jury pool consists of 6 men and w women. If 2 jurors are selected from the pool at random, is the probability that 2 men will be selected higher than the probability that 1 man and 1 woman will be selected?
(1) w> 3
(2) w < 6
Statement 1: w> 3
Let's see what happens if w = 3 (note: this is the best chance that P(2 men) will be greater than P(1 man and 1 woman)
P(2 men) = P(man selected 1st and man selected 2nd)
= (6/9)(5/8)
= 30/72
P(1 man and 1 woman) = P(man selected 1st and woman selected 2nd OR woman selected 1st and man selected 2nd)
= P(man selected 1st and woman selected 2nd) + P(woman selected 1st and man selected 2nd)
= (6/9)(3/8) + (3/9)(6/8)
= 18/72 + 18/72
= 36/72
So, when w = 3, P(2 men) is not greater than P(1 man and 1 woman)
IMPORTANT: Now that we've shown that P(2 men) is not greater than P(1 man and 1 woman) when w = 3, we can see that, as the value of w increases, the answer to the target question will always remain the same.
As such, statement 1 is SUFFICIENT
Statement 2: w < 6
Consider these two conflicting cases:
Case a: w = 1
P(2 men) = (6/7)(5/6)
= 30/42
P(1 man and 1 woman) = P(man selected 1st and woman selected 2nd OR woman selected 1st and man selected 2nd)
= P(man selected 1st and woman selected 2nd) + P(woman selected 1st and man selected 2nd)
= (6/7)(1/6) + (1/6)(6/7)
= 6/42 + 6/42
= 12/42
So, when w = 1, P(2 men) is greater than P(1 man and 1 woman)
Case b: w = 3
In statement 1, we already showed that, when w = 3, P(2 men) is not greater than P(1 man and 1 woman)
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT
Answer = A
Cheers,
Brent