Max Liters

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Max Liters

by Sak32 » Sun Dec 01, 2013 9:56 am
Marcia's bucket can hold a maximum of how many liters of water?

1) The bucket currently contains 9 liters of water.

2) If 3 liters of water are added to the bucket when it is half full of water, the amount of water in the bucket will increase by 1/3.

Please provide clear explanations.
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Dec 01, 2013 10:22 am
Sak32 wrote:Marcia's bucket can hold a maximum of how many liters of water?

1) The bucket currently contains 9 liters of water.

2) If 3 liters of water are added to the bucket when it is half full of water, the amount of water in the bucket will increase by 1/3.
Target question: Marcia's bucket can hold a maximum of how many liters of water?
In other words, what is the TOTAL CAPACITY of Marcia's bucket?

Statement 1: The bucket currently contains 9 liters of water.
Not enough info to determine the TOTAL CAPACITY of Marcia's bucket.
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, statement 1 is SUFFICIENT

Statement 2: If 3 liters of water are added to the bucket when it is half full of water, the amount of water in the bucket will increase by 1/3.
Let C = total capacity of bucket.
If the bucket is half full, then the volume of water = (1/2)C
We're told that adding 3 liters of water increases volume of water by 1/3
In other words, the 3 extra liters is equal to 1/3 of (1/2)C
We can write: 3 = (1/3)(1/2)C
Simplify: 3 = (1/6)C
So, C = 18
Since we can answer the target question with certainty, statement 2 is SUFFICIENT

Answer = B

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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