## At a certain committee meeting only associate professors and assistant professors are present. Each associate professor

##### This topic has expert replies
Legendary Member
Posts: 1892
Joined: 14 Oct 2017
Followed by:3 members

### At a certain committee meeting only associate professors and assistant professors are present. Each associate professor

by VJesus12 » Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:00 am

00:00

A

B

C

D

E

## Global Stats

At a certain committee meeting, only associate professors and assistant professors are present. Each associate professor has brought 2 pencils and 1 chart to the meeting, while each assistant professor has brought 1 pencil and 2 charts. If a total of 10 pencils and 11 charts have been brought to the meeting, how many people are present?

A. 6
B. 7
C. 8
D. 9
E. 10

Source: GMAT Prep

Legendary Member
Posts: 1983
Joined: 29 Oct 2017
Followed by:6 members

### Re: At a certain committee meeting only associate professors and assistant professors are present. Each associate profes

by swerve » Fri Jun 11, 2021 9:40 am
VJesus12 wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:00 am
At a certain committee meeting, only associate professors and assistant professors are present. Each associate professor has brought 2 pencils and 1 chart to the meeting, while each assistant professor has brought 1 pencil and 2 charts. If a total of 10 pencils and 11 charts have been brought to the meeting, how many people are present?

A. 6
B. 7
C. 8
D. 9
E. 10

Source: GMAT Prep
Here, we have the following equations
\begin{cases}
2a + b = 10 \\
a + 2b = 11
\end{cases}

Now, adding the above equations we get

$$3a+3b=21 \quad\Longrightarrow\quad a+b=7$$

Therefore, the total number of people is $$7.$$

### GMAT/MBA Expert

GMAT Instructor
Posts: 15628
Joined: 08 Dec 2008
Location: Vancouver, BC
Thanked: 5254 times
Followed by:1266 members
GMAT Score:770

### Re: At a certain committee meeting only associate professors and assistant professors are present. Each associate profes

by [email protected] » Fri Jun 11, 2021 3:49 pm
VJesus12 wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:00 am
At a certain committee meeting, only associate professors and assistant professors are present. Each associate professor has brought 2 pencils and 1 chart to the meeting, while each assistant professor has brought 1 pencil and 2 charts. If a total of 10 pencils and 11 charts have been brought to the meeting, how many people are present?

A. 6
B. 7
C. 8
D. 9
E. 10

Source: GMAT Prep
Notice that the question asks us to find that TOTAL number of people present.
In other words, it the question does NOT ask us to find the number of associate professors or the number of assistant professors present.

Since each person brings THREE items, and since a total of 21 items were brought (10 pencils and 11 charts), the number of people = 21/3 = 7