A sporting goods store received a shipment of baseball glo

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 298
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:42 am
Location: New delhi
Thanked: 10 times
Followed by:7 members
GMAT Score:590
A sporting goods store received a shipment of baseball gloves that included 5 brown gloves for every 6 black gloves. Did the store receive at least 250 gloves in the shipment?

(1) 44% of the left-handed gloves in the shipment were black.

(2) The shipment included 84 black, right-handed gloves.



c?
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 447
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2012 7:13 am
Thanked: 46 times
Followed by:13 members
GMAT Score:700

by hemant_rajput » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:59 am
varun289 wrote:A sporting goods store received a shipment of baseball gloves that included 5 brown gloves for every 6 black gloves. Did the store receive at least 250 gloves in the shipment?

(1) 44% of the left-handed gloves in the shipment were black.

(2) The shipment included 84 black, right-handed gloves.



c?
IMO - C
brown/ black = 5/6

1. we don't know total no. of black glove, hence statement is NOT sufficient.
2. We don't we don't know total no. of black glove, hence statement is NOT sufficient.

combining two equation

black left handed gloves = 44% of left handed gloves
= 44/100 * X
==11/25 * X

so left handed gloves should be a multiple of 25.

so lets take 25 as total no. of left handed gloves.

black left handed gloves = 11
black right handed gloves = 84
total black gloves = 95

We need total no. black gloves to be a multiple of 6 so that total no. of brown gloves is an integer.
now the trick over here is 84 is a multiple of 6, so we need left black gloves also to be a multiple of 6.

Hence the least possible no. for left handed gloves is 150.
black left handed gloves = 66
black right handed gloves = 84
total black gloves = 150
total brown gloves = 125

total gloves = 275.

hence sufficient.

total brown gloves = some value(not an integer )
I'm no expert, just trying to work on my skills. If I've made any mistakes please bear with me.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 423
Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2010 7:59 am
Location: Seattle, WA
Thanked: 86 times
Followed by:2 members

by srcc25anu » Tue Apr 02, 2013 1:47 pm
Is it ok to assume (unless anything mentioned specifically in question stem to the contrary) that LH and RH will be a same color pair. I worked on this problem on this assumption.

Black : Brown = 6:5
Is total shipment (Black + Brown) >= 250??

ST1: 44% of LH gloves = BLACK
therefore 56% of LH gloves is BROWN
Also if we assume the same % of RH gloves that 44% is Black and 56% is brown it doesnt tell us anything about the lot size of shipment.

It could be 100 gloves in total or could be a 1000 (divided between Brown and black in the ratio 56% - 44% respectively.
hence INSUFFICIENT

St2: shipment included 84 black RH gloves. for every 6 black gloves, we have 5 brown gloves. so for 84 black RH gloves, we have 70 brown RH gloves.
we have total 84 + 70 = 154 RH gloves. The same will be the pair of LH gloves (84 black and 70 brown) and hence total = 154 * 2 > 250
hence SUFFICIENT

Ans B

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 447
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2012 7:13 am
Thanked: 46 times
Followed by:13 members
GMAT Score:700

by hemant_rajput » Tue Apr 02, 2013 2:57 pm
Upto my knowledge in baseball a player is required to wear only one glove. So left or right glove need not be in pair. Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm no expert, just trying to work on my skills. If I've made any mistakes please bear with me.

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:23 pm
Location: Malibu, CA
Thanked: 716 times
Followed by:255 members
GMAT Score:750

by Brian@VeritasPrep » Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:04 am
You're right on, Hemant - we cannot assume here that gloves will come in pairs (and in baseball, players do only wear one glove).

This one is one of mine - I wrote it for a tutoring student who needed to see some Matrix Box style questions in Data Sufficiency form, and since the classic setup for Matrix Box questions is "two sets of categories, each with only two options" I was looking for something different from man/woman, employee/not and figured left vs. right hand guaranteed one or the other (plus baseball season was starting and that was on my mind). I don't know that this one would pass official GMAT standards for cultural bias given that "gloves" in general usually come in pairs...this one might be borderline, but having written it and taught it a few times and seeing how helpful it was for students to see the logic I threw it in the Veritas Question Bank as a practice question. And where I think it may still work even as an official question - with Data Sufficiency if your question is ever "am I right to assume..." the answer is almost always no.

The logic that Hemant used to solve it is spot on and should give you all some insight into how these questions can look in a difficult form on test day. Watch out for:

-Information embedded in the question stem (here the fact that there's a 5:6 ratio of brown:black is pretty important)

-Complementary categories in which the two subsets have to add to 100% (here the fact that 44% of the left-handed gloves are black means that the other 56% of the left-handed gloves must be brown)

-Question stems that ask something specific - here you can't get the actual number, but you can get that the number will be more than 250.

-DS questions in which the items involved (people, gloves, books, etc.) require integer values, allowing you to use factors/multiples to solve for parameters.
Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep

Looking for GMAT practice questions? Try out the Veritas Prep Question Bank. Learn More.