Data Sufficiency

SaraLotfy wrote:What is 35 percent of a^b?

1) b is 200 percent of a
2)50 percent of b is a

Target question: What is 35 percent of a^b?

Statement 1: b is 200 percent of a
In other words, b = 2a
There are several values of a and b that satisfy this condition. Here are two:
Case a: a = 1 and b = 2, in which case 35% of a^b = (0.35)(1)
Case b: a = 2 and b = 4, in which case 35% of a^b = (0.35)(16)
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statement 2:50 percent of b is a
In other words, a = (1/2)b
Or we can write 2a = b
STOP
At this point, we should recognize that statement 2 provides the EXACT SAME information that statement 1 provides. When the statements provide the same information, the correct answer must be either D (each statement is sufficient) or E (each statement is NOT sufficient).
Since we've already shown that statement 1 is NOT sufficient, we can conclude that statement 2 is NOT sufficient, and we can conclude that the statements combined are NOT sufficient.

Answer = E

Cheers,
Brent