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A school administrator will assign each student

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A school administrator will assign each student

by rakeshd347 » Thu Oct 03, 2013 6:55 pm
A school administrator will assign each student in a group of N students to one of M classrooms. If 3<M<13<N, is it possible to assign each of the N students to one of the M classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it?

(1) It is possible to assign each of 3N students to one of M classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it.

(2) It is possible to assign each of 13N students to one of M classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it.

OA is .B
Last edited by rakeshd347 on Fri Oct 04, 2013 12:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Source: — Data Sufficiency |
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Oct 03, 2013 7:36 pm
A school administrator will assign each student in a group of n students to one of m classrooms. If 3 < m < 13 < n, is it possible to assign each of the n students to one of the m classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it?

(1) It is possible to assign each of 3n students to one of m classrooms so that each classroom
has the same number of students assigned to it.

(2) It is possible to assign each of 13n students to one of m classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it.
To assign the same number of students to each classroom, the number of students (n) must be divisible by the number of classrooms (m).

Question rephrased: Is n/m an integer?

Statement 1: It is possible to assign each of 3n students to one of m classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it.
In other words, the number of students here (3n) is divisible by the number of classrooms (m), implying that 3n/m is an integer.
Since we need to determine whether m will always divide into n, plug in EXTREME values for m.

m=4:
It's possible that m=4 and n=16, with the result that 3n/m = (3*16)/4 = 12.
In this case, then n/m = 16/4 = 4, which is an integer.

m=12:
It's possible that m=12 and n=16, with the result that 3n/m = (3*16)/12 = 4.
In this case, n/m = 16/12 = 4/3, which is NOT an integer.
INSUFFICIENT.

Statement 2: It is possible to assign each of 13n students to one of m classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it.
In other words, the number of students here (13n) is divisible by the number of classrooms (m), implying that 13n/m is an integer.
It is not possible that m divides into 13, since the only factors of 13 are 1 and 13, and m must be BETWEEN 3 and 13.
Thus, for 13n/m to be an integer, m must divide into n, implying that n/m is an integer.
SUFFICIENT.

The correct answer is B.
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Thu Oct 03, 2013 10:39 pm
rakeshd347 wrote:A school administrator will assign each student in a group of N students to one of M classrooms. If 3<M<13<N, is it possible to assign each of the N students to one of the M classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it?

(1) It is possible to assign each of 3N students to one of M classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it.

(2) It is possible to assign each of 13N students to one of M classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it.
Target question: Is it possible to assign each of the n students to one of the m classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students assigned to it

This is a great candidate for rephrasing the target question (more info about rephrasing the target question can be found in this free video:
https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... cy?id=1100)

In order to be able to assign the same number of students to each classroom, the number of students (n) must be divisible by the number of classrooms (m). In other words, n/m must be an integer.

Rephrased target question: Is n/m an integer?

Statement 1: It is possible to assign each of 3n students to one of m classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students to it.

This statement is telling us that the number of students (3n) is divisible by the number of classrooms (m). In other words, 3n/m is an integer.

Does this mean mean that m/n is an integer? No.
Consider these contradictory cases.
case a: m = 4 and n = 20, in which case n/m is an integer.
case b: m = 6 and n = 20, in which case n/m is not an integer.
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statement 2: It is possible to assign each of 13n students to one of m classrooms so that each classroom has the same number of students to it
This statement tells us that the number of students (13n) is divisible by the number of classrooms (m). In other words, 13n/m is an integer.

The given information tells us that 3 < m < 13 < n. Since m is between 3 and 13, there's no way that 13/m can be an integer. From this, we can conclude that n/m must be an integer.
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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