Is the average (arithmetic mean) of 5 different positive

This topic has expert replies
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2623
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:17 am
Location: Montreal
Thanked: 1090 times
Followed by:355 members
GMAT Score:780

by Ian Stewart » Wed May 01, 2019 2:23 am

Timer

00:00

Your Answer

A

B

C

D

E

Global Stats

If the five numbers are, as Statement 1 and the stem tell us, five different positive multiples of 10, the smallest values we could possibly have are:

10, 20, 30, 40, 50

That's an equally spaced list, so its average is equal to its median, so the average of the list above is 30. But that's the smallest possible average we can get, so any list we can make consisting of five distinct positive multiples of ten must have an average of 30 or greater, and Statement 1 is sufficient.

In Statement 2 we can divide 160 by 5 and compute the exact value of the average, so of course we can answer any question about the average, and Statement 2 is sufficient. So the answer is D.
For online GMAT math tutoring, or to buy my higher-level Quant books and problem sets, contact me at ianstewartgmat at gmail.com

ianstewartgmat.com