Vincen wrote:If Carla, Nora, and Wanda have a total of $48, how much money does Carla have?
(1) The positive difference between the amounts of money that Carla and Nora have is $12.
(2) Nora and Wanda have the same amount of money.
Target question: How much money does Carla have?
Given: Carla, Nora, and Wanda have a total of $48
Statement 1: The positive difference between the amounts of money that Carla and Nora have is $12.
Since we have no information about Wanda, there's no way to use this information to answer the
target question
So, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT
Statement 2: Nora and Wanda have the same amount of money.
No information about Carla.
So, statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT
Statements 1 and 2 combined
Statement 2 tells us that Nora and Wanda have the SAME amount of money.
Let
x = Nora's money
So,
x = Wanda's money
Statement 1 tells us that The positive difference between the amounts of money that Carla and Nora have is $12
So,
EITHER Carla has $12 more than Nora, OR Carla has $12 less than Nora
Let's examine each possible case:
Case a: Carla has $12
more than Nora. Since
x = Nora's money, we can see that
x+12 = Carla's money. We're told that the 3 people have a total of $48
So, we can write:
x +
x + (x+12) = 48. Solve to get: x = 12. This means Nora and Wanda have $12 each and
Carla has $24
Case b: Carla has $12
less than Nora. Since
x = Nora's money, we can see that
x-12 = Carla's money. We're told that the 3 people have a total of $48
So, we can write:
x +
x + (x-12) = 48. Solve to get: x = 20. This means Nora and Wanda have $20 each and
Carla has $8
Since we cannot answer the
target question with certainty, the combined statements are NOT SUFFICIENT
Answer: E
Cheers,
Brent
