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What was the total amount of postage required to mail \(n\) letters?

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by Vincen » Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:10 am

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What was the total amount of postage required to mail \(n\) letters?

(1) \(n = 10\)
(2) Each of the letters required at least \(\$0.32\) postage.

[spoiler]OA=E[/spoiler]

Source: GMAT Paper Tests
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Source: — Data Sufficiency |

Vincen wrote:
Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:10 am
What was the total amount of postage required to mail \(n\) letters?

(1) \(n = 10\)
(2) Each of the letters required at least \(\$0.32\) postage.

[spoiler]OA=E[/spoiler]

Source: GMAT Paper Tests
Target question: What was the total amount of postage required to mail n letters?

When I SCAN the two statements, they both feel insufficient, AND I’m pretty sure I can identify some cases with conflicting answers to the target question. So, I’m going to head straight to……

Statements 1 and 2 combined
There are several scenarios that satisfy BOTH statements. Here are two:
Case a: There are 10 letters, add each letter requires $0.40 in postage. In this case, the answer to the target question is the total postage cost = (10)($0.40) = $4.00
Case b: There are 10 letters, add each letter requires $0.50 in postage. In this case, the answer to the target question is the total postage cost = (10)($0.50) = $5.00
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, the combined statements are NOT SUFFICIENT

Answer: E

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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