__neo wrote:Its a very elementary problem , but i still find the wording of option 2 very confusing, how can the author assume n2= 20 , it could very easily mean that out of 20 of n2 20% are strawberries?

Dear neo --

Hi, there. I'm happy to help.

Here, the GMAT is wording the questions with complete precision.

If they said ----

"...20% of 20 of the pieces of fruit on the second layer ..."

--- that would mean: altogether there are more than 20 on the second layer, and in this statement they are just talking about a subset of 20 of them.

Instead, they said ----

"...20% of the 20 pieces of fruit on the second layer ..."

--- and the word "the" before the number makes univocally clear that there are, in fact, exactly 20 pieces of fruit on the bottom. This grammatical construction, the word "the" + a number, always means that the exact number of a set is thereby specified. You can rely on this: the GMAT will use this construction to have this meaning 100% of the time.

Given that reading of Statement #2, do you understand how to solve the question?

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Mike