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Did the person in second place receive at least $40?

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Did the person in second place receive at least $40?

by gmattesttaker2 » Sun Jun 15, 2014 6:11 pm
Hello,

Can you please tell me how to solve for Statement 2 here:


$150 in prize money is going to be split among 6 contestants in a competition at a charity event. The person in first place receives the most money, the person in second place receives the second most, the person in third place receives the third most, and so on. Did the person in second place receive at least $40 of the prize money?

(1) The person in first place won $50

(2) No individual prize was within $10 of another prize


OA: B


The OA mentions:

If no individual prize was within $10 of another prize then the only possibility is 0,10,20,30,40,and 50 and statement (2) is sufficient by itself.

This is from Veritas test.


Thanks a lot,
Sri
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Source: — Data Sufficiency |
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by kvcpk » Sun Jun 15, 2014 6:27 pm
gmattesttaker2 wrote:Hello,

Can you please tell me how to solve for Statement 2 here:


$150 in prize money is going to be split among 6 contestants in a competition at a charity event. The person in first place receives the most money, the person in second place receives the second most, the person in third place receives the third most, and so on. Did the person in second place receive at least $40 of the prize money?

(1) The person in first place won $50

(2) No individual prize was within $10 of another prize


OA: B


The OA mentions:

If no individual prize was within $10 of another prize then the only possibility is 0,10,20,30,40,and 50 and statement (2) is sufficient by itself.

This is from Veritas test.


Thanks a lot,
Sri
Total amount = 150
(1) The person in first place won $50
Sum of all other prizes = 100.
Statement 1 doesnt give us any hint about the second place prize amount.
INSUFFICIENT


(2) No individual prize was within $10 of another prize
Lets say the least prize amount was x,
then, x+x+10+x+20+x+30+x+40+x+50 = 150. (This is the closest possible)
6X +150 = 150
X=0
Hence 2nd spot received atleast 0+40 = 40 dollars.
SUFFICIENT

pick B

Hope this helps!!
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by [email protected] » Sun Jun 15, 2014 6:30 pm
Hi Sri,

This is a poorly worded question. I understand the "intent" of it, but the writer wasn't precise enough in his/her use of language.

To start, the prompt implies that all six contestants receive prize money. The explanation for Statement 2 states that the 6th place contestant receives $0, which isn't a prize. Second, Statement 2 states that "no prize...was WITHIN $10 of another prize." The word "within" is problematic because it's left to the Test Taker to determine if that means "less than, but not including, $10" or if it means "$10 or less, inclusive."

GMAT questions are carefully worded, vetted and tested before they are ever used as "live" questions on an actual GMAT; this process removes almost all "bias" in terms of how a Test Taker might interpret the prompt. This question probably did not go through as rigorous of a vetting process.

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Rich
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