Lets line up the players,
Player position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Points 5 4 3 2 1
Team A B C B A
The teams have been allocated such that two teams reach ascore of 6 so that the third team has the least score which is 3.
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Source: Beat The GMAT — Problem Solving |
Clear explanation mj78ind ...mj78ind wrote:Lets line up the players,
Player position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Points 5 4 3 2 1
Team A B C B A
The teams have been allocated such that two teams reach ascore of 6 so that the third team has the least score which is 3.
Actually, reading "3 teams were allowed to enter 3 members each" was a lillte messy to me, it should have said: "3 teams had 3 members each" ...
Thanks for your time.
Silvia
-
Patrick_GMATFix
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 1052
- Thanked: 335 times
Hi Silvia,
As a general rule, if you are asked to find the 'least' that a value can be, maximize all the other values. Conversely, if you're trying to find the 'most' that a value can be, minimize all the other values.
In this case, to find the least possible score that a team could have earned, maximize the other teams' scores. In this case, we're told that the max for any team is 6 points. So the question can simply be restated as "if team A and team B earn 6 points each, what will be team C's score?"
To represent this clearly, a table would work. Essentially team A can earn 5 (1st place finish) and 1 (5th place). Team B can earn 4 (2nd place finish) and 2 (4th place). Therefore team C will have a member finish 3rd place and earn 3 points. The other team C member will finish last and earn no point.
The least possible score for a team is 3 points. The answer is D.
An illustration (table) and a video solution are available at GMATPrep Question 1580. To practice similar questions, set topic='Functions & Sequences' and difficulty='500-600' in the Drill Engine.
Hope this helps,
-Patrick
As a general rule, if you are asked to find the 'least' that a value can be, maximize all the other values. Conversely, if you're trying to find the 'most' that a value can be, minimize all the other values.
In this case, to find the least possible score that a team could have earned, maximize the other teams' scores. In this case, we're told that the max for any team is 6 points. So the question can simply be restated as "if team A and team B earn 6 points each, what will be team C's score?"
To represent this clearly, a table would work. Essentially team A can earn 5 (1st place finish) and 1 (5th place). Team B can earn 4 (2nd place finish) and 2 (4th place). Therefore team C will have a member finish 3rd place and earn 3 points. The other team C member will finish last and earn no point.
The least possible score for a team is 3 points. The answer is D.
An illustration (table) and a video solution are available at GMATPrep Question 1580. To practice similar questions, set topic='Functions & Sequences' and difficulty='500-600' in the Drill Engine.
Hope this helps,
-Patrick
- Check out my site: GMATFix.com
- To prep my students I use this tool >> (screenshots, video)
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Hey Patrick ! .. sure it helps ... I'm going to check some more questions like this.Patrick_GMATFix wrote:Hi Silvia,
As a general rule, if you are asked to find the 'least' that a value can be, maximize all the other values. Conversely, if you're trying to find the 'most' that a value can be, minimize all the other values.
In this case, to find the least possible score that a team could have earned, maximize the other teams' scores. In this case, we're told that the max for any team is 6 points. So the question can simply be restated as "if team A and team B earn 6 points each, what will be team C's score?"
To represent this clearly, a table would work. Essentially team A can earn 5 (1st place finish) and 1 (5th place). Team B can earn 4 (2nd place finish) and 2 (4th place). Therefore team C will have a member finish 3rd place and earn 3 points. The other team C member will finish last and earn no point.
The least possible score for a team is 3 points. The answer is D.
An illustration (table) and a video solution are available at GMATPrep Question 1580. To practice similar questions, set topic='Functions & Sequences' and difficulty='500-600' in the Drill Engine.
Hope this helps,
-Patrick
Thanks
Silvia.
