BTGModeratorVI wrote: ↑

Sat May 16, 2020 7:29 am

How many people did Apex Company employ in 1990?
(1) The company employed 538 more people in 1991 than in 1990.
(2) The company employed 20 percent more people in 1991 than in 1990.

Answer: C
Source: GMAT paper tests

Target question: How many people did Apex Company employ in 1990?

Statement 1: The company employed 538 more people in 1991 than in 1990.
Since we don't know the number of people employed in 1991, there's no way to answer the target question with certainty
So, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statement 2: The company employed 20 percent more people in 1991 than in 1990
In order to answer the target question, we still need to know the number of people employed in 1991.
Statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statements 1 and 2 combined
Statement 2 tells us that the company employed 20 percent more people in 1991 than in 1990
So, if x = the number of people employed in 1990, we can write: 0.2x = how many more people were employed in 1991

Statement 1 tells us that the company employed 538 more people in 1991 than in 1990
So we can write: 0.2x = 538
Solve to get: x = 2690
The answer to the target question is Apex Company employed 2690 people in 1990
Since we can answer the target question with certainty, the combined statements are SUFFICIENT

Answer: C

Cheers,
Brent