Meaning no disrespect to the Economist GMAT Tutor, but any of a number of answers is possible. It depends entirely on one's understanding of the question. The question states: "... the difference among the first 3 men was 2 [inches]...," a statement that EGT has taken to mean that man 1 is the shortest, man 2 is 2 inches taller, and man 3 is 2 inches taller than that. But is this the only interpretation? Couldn't one suppose that man 1 was the shortest, man 2 was 1 inch taller, and man 3 was 2 inches taller than the first? This would result in a 2 inch difference "among them." If that is the case, then the correct answer would be 79¼.
But even this assumes that man 1 is the shortest. Isn't it equally possible that man 3 was the shortest, at 71 inches, man 2 at 73 inches, and man 1 at 75 inches, leaving man 4 at 77 inches, 6 inches taller than the third man?
Or perhaps the 3rd man is the middle of the three heights. The problem doesn't say. In my opinion, the language should be cleaned up to eliminate not only the grammatical errors but also the ambiguity.
Elias Latour
Verbal Specialist @ ApexGMAT
blog.apexgmat.com
+1 (646) 736-7622
