Club X has more than 10 but fewer than 40 members

This topic has expert replies
Legendary Member
Posts: 1223
Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2020 2:23 pm
Followed by:1 members

Timer

00:00

Your Answer

A

B

C

D

E

Global Stats

Club X has more than 10 but fewer than 40 members. Sometimes the members sit at tables with 3 members at one table and 4 members at each of the other tables, and sometimes they sit at tables with 3 members at one table and 5 members at each of the other tables. If they sit at tables with 6 members at each table except one and fewer than 6 members at that one table, how many members will be at the table that has fewer than 6 members?

(A) 1
(B) 2
(C) 3
(D) 4
(E) 5

Answer: E
Source: Official guide
Source: — Problem Solving |

Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 23
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2019 9:57 pm
Let's assume total members in club X = n

Given 10 < n < 40.


Now, condition 1: 3 members at 1 table and 4 members at the rest of the table.
Let's say total tables occupied = y + 1
Total members = 3*1 + 4*y.................................(1)

Condition 2: 3 members at 1 table and 5 members at the rest of the table.
Let's say total tables occupied in this scenario = z+1

Total members = 3*1 + 5*z .................................(2)

(1) = (2) = n

3 + 4y = 3 + 5z = n

Now, from this expression 10 < 3 + 4y < 40
Possible values of n = 11 when y =2
n = 15 when y = 3
n = 19 when y = 4
n = 23 when y = 5
n = 27 when y = 6
n = 31 when y = 7
n = 35 when y = 8
n = 39 when y = 9

Now, from this expression 10 < 3 + 5z < 40
Possible values of n = 13 when z =2
n = 18 when z = 3
n = 23 when z = 4
n = 28 when z = 5
n = 33 when z = 6
n = 38 when z = 7

Looking at the possible values in two expressions, we find n = 23 common in both the expressions. Therefore, total members in club X = 23

Now, we can group 23 members in 3 groups of 6 members and 1 group of 5 members.

Therefore, the number of members at the table having fewer than 6 members = 5

Option E is the correct answer.

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
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
BTGModeratorVI wrote:
Fri Aug 14, 2020 1:13 pm
Club X has more than 10 but fewer than 40 members. Sometimes the members sit at tables with 3 members at one table and 4 members at each of the other tables, and sometimes they sit at tables with 3 members at one table and 5 members at each of the other tables. If they sit at tables with 6 members at each table except one and fewer than 6 members at that one table, how many members will be at the table that has fewer than 6 members?

(A) 1
(B) 2
(C) 3
(D) 4
(E) 5

Answer: E
Source: Official guide
This is a nice remainder question in disguise.
For this question, we'll use a nice rule that that says:
If N divided by D leaves remainder R, then the possible values of N are R, R+D, R+2D, R+3D,. . . etc.
For example, if k divided by 5 leaves a remainder of 1, then the possible values of k are: 1, 1+5, 1+(2)(5), 1+(3)(5), 1+(4)(5), . . . etc.

Let N = the TOTAL number of members.

Sometimes the members sit at tables with 3 members at one table and 4 members at each of the other tables...
With 4 members at each table, then N is multiple of 4
However, we still have one more table to consider.
Since the last table has 3 members, we know that N is 3 greater than a multiple of 4
In other words, when we divide N by 4, the remainder is 3
By the above rule, some possible values of N are: 11, 15, 19, 23, 27, etc
NOTE: I started at 11, since we're told that 10 < N < 49

Sometimes they sit at tables with 3 members at one table and 5 members at each of the other tables
Using the same logic as above, this question tells us that, when we divide N by 5, the remainder is 3
By the above rule, some possible values of N are: 13, 18, 23, 28, 33, 38

Let's check the two results.
First we learned that N can equal 11, 15, 19, 23, 27, 31, 35, 38
Next we learned that N can equal 13, 18, 23, 28, 33, 38
Once we check the OVERLAP, we can see that N equals 23

If they sit at tables with 6 members at each table except one and fewer than 6 members at that one table, how many members will be at the table that has fewer than 6 members?
If N = 23, then we'll have 3 tables with 6 members and the remaining 5 members will sit at the other table.

Answer: E
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
Image