Hey Arora,

Good question - this is a pretty good example of an overarching Data Sufficiency strategy:

Don't pick E unless you can prove for certain that you can't solve the problem!

Think about it - business schools want people who can do the most with the least amount of resources. So it's not in their interest to reward people for an "easy" E (why is it that most of my posts this week contain inadvertent hip-hop shout-outs?).

In this question, it seems almost obvious that E is the answer:

1) Only tells us about 1 meal, and we know that he probably ate more than that

2) Tells us about the total for the day, but nothing about individual breakdowns of fat, protein, and carbs

E seems pretty obvious, right? Neither statement alone tells us all that much.

That should be your clue that you have to dig further...they won't make E that easy!

If you dig deeper and do the conversions from statement 1, you find that Bill ate:

80 grams * 4 calories/gram of carbs: 320 calories from carbs
60 grams * 4 calories/gram of protein: 240 calories from protein
60 grams * 9 calories/gram of fat: 540 grams from fat

Statement 2 tells us that he had 1500 calories total, and with the carbs:protein:fat ratio of 40:30:30, he should have had:

600 calories from carbs
450 from protein
450 from fat

So he should have 450 calories from fat, but in one sitting he had 540, so he's already over the limit. He did not, then, follow the diet.


Now, breaking down all of that math was a little time-consuming, but keep in mind that E is arguably the answer choice that you have to prove the most. The GMAT can't reward you for throwing up your hands quickly and saying "can't be done", as that's not the attitude that will make you successful in business. Rather, the value of E as a "business" answer choice is your ability to say "I could do it, but I'd need this one additional resource that we just don't have". In order to select E as your answer, you should be able to point to that one piece of necessary information that you just aren't given. Because of that, it usually pays to dig deeper before selecting E.

Brian@VeritasPrep wrote: (why is it that most of my posts this week contain inadvertent hip-hop shout-outs?).

Because you Rock!! thanks a lot!!