Hi manik11,
Sometimes the easiest way to answer a Quant question is to 'play around' with it and use 'brute force' to get to the solution. This type of approach is often applicable when the number of 'possibilities' is limited.
Here, we're told that a certain number of candies is divided among 3 children. We're asked to figure out the number candies that went to the child who received the LEAST number of candies.
1) The two children that received the greatest number of pieces received a total of 13 pieces.
Based on this Fact, the number of pieces received by these 2 children could have been...
11 and 2
10 and 3
9 and 4
8 and 5
7 and 6
No other options are possible (remember that there's a 3rd child who received at least one piece of candy, so this list CAN'T have 12 and 1 on it, otherwise the 3rd child - the one who received the LEAST - would receive 0 pieces and that's NOT an option). Given this list of options, the child who received the least number of pieces would have gotten from 1 - 5 pieces, but we don't know exactly how many from this information.
Fact 1 is INSUFFICIENT.
2) The two children that received the fewest number of pieces received a total of 11 pieces
From this Fact, we can create a similar list, but now we're tracking the two children who received the 'lower 2' numbers:
1 and 10
2 and 9
3 and 8
4 and 7
5 and 6
From these options, the child who received the least would have received form 1 - 5 pieces, but we still don't know how many pieces exactly.
Fact 2 is INSUFFICIENT
Combined, we need to 'match' one of the options from the second list with an option from the first list that allows for both "sub-totals" (the 13 and the 11). Starting from the 2nd list - the one that contains the two SMALLER numbers...
1 and 10 doesn't work (the biggest would be "3" and that's no mathematically possible).
2 and 9 doesn't work (the biggest would be "4" and that's no mathematically possible).
3 and 8 doesn't work (the biggest would be "5" and that's no mathematically possible).
4 and 7 doesn't work (the biggest would be "6" and that's no mathematically possible).
5 and 6 DOES work though (the biggest would be "7" and that IS mathematically possible. This is the ONLY possible solution.
Combined, SUFFICIENT.
Final Answer: C
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
