Standard Deviation for 2 classes

This topic has expert replies
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 49
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2009 9:58 am
Thanked: 3 times

Standard Deviation for 2 classes

by svishal1123 » Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:11 am
Hi Friends,

My answer and OA were different. Could somebody please validate my result. Detailed OE was not there.

Class................Average Age............No. of Students
----------------------------------------------------------
A....................15 years.....................6
B....................16 years....................12

Is the standard deviation of ages of students in class A greater than the standard deviation of the age of students in class B?

1. The difference between the ages of any two students in class A is always more than 1 year

2. No student in class B is more than 6 months older than any other student


My approach:
A and B alone are not sufficient since they give information about only 1 class. We could have various combinations for the other class.

Lets take the statements together.

For class A "always more than 1 year", hence we could determine the MINIMUM standard deviation

Mean is 15. If we plug the following values we will get the MINIMUM standard deviation

12.5 13.5 14.5 15.5 16.5 17.5.

This is closest that we can keep the values and meet the conditions. Minimum Standard deviation = 2.5. However, the standard deviation can be more also.

For class B "No student.... more than 6 month older", hence we could determine the MAXIMUM standard deviation

Mean is 16. If we plug the following values we will get the MAXIMUM standard deviation

13.25 13.75 14.25 14.75 15.25 15.75 16.25 16.75 17.25 17.75 18.25 18.75

This is the farthest we can keep the values and meet the conditions.
hence MAXIMUM standard deviation = 2.75

At this point we can see that the standard deviation of B is more than A, however we determined the Minimum standard deviation for A and maximum for B. So the value for A can also be more than B.

We do not know for sure that the standard deviation for A is more than A since by plugging values we got it less as well.

My answer E, OA is C

OE: In combination: the statements are sufficient since (1) gives info about the standard deviation of A and (2) for B. Although you cannot determine the exact standard deviations of either class, you can see that class B has a much narrower distribution of members than class A and from this you could determine that class A would have a greater standard deviation than class B . Choice C is the correct answer.
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 3225
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:40 pm
Location: Toronto
Thanked: 1710 times
Followed by:614 members
GMAT Score:800
svishal1123 wrote:Hi Friends,

My answer and OA were different. Could somebody please validate my result. Detailed OE was not there.

Class................Average Age............No. of Students
----------------------------------------------------------
A....................15 years.....................6
B....................16 years....................12

Is the standard deviation of ages of students in class A greater than the standard deviation of the age of students in class B?

1. The difference between the ages of any two students in class A is always more than 1 year

2. No student in class B is more than 6 months older than any other student


My approach:
A and B alone are not sufficient since they give information about only 1 class. We could have various combinations for the other class.

Lets take the statements together.

For class A "always more than 1 year", hence we could determine the MINIMUM standard deviation

Mean is 15. If we plug the following values we will get the MINIMUM standard deviation

12.5 13.5 14.5 15.5 16.5 17.5.

This is closest that we can keep the values and meet the conditions. Minimum Standard deviation = 2.5. However, the standard deviation can be more also.

For class B "No student.... more than 6 month older", hence we could determine the MAXIMUM standard deviation

Mean is 16. If we plug the following values we will get the MAXIMUM standard deviation

13.25 13.75 14.25 14.75 15.25 15.75 16.25 16.75 17.25 17.75 18.25 18.75

This is the farthest we can keep the values and meet the conditions.
hence MAXIMUM standard deviation = 2.75

At this point we can see that the standard deviation of B is more than A, however we determined the Minimum standard deviation for A and maximum for B. So the value for A can also be more than B.

We do not know for sure that the standard deviation for A is more than A since by plugging values we got it less as well.

My answer E, OA is C
The problem is that you've misinterpreted the statements. Let's start with (2), since that's worded a bit more clearly:
No student in class B is more than 6 months older than any other student.
You've interpreted this as "there isn't a gap of more than 6 months between any two consecutive students".

However, the statement should be interpreted as "there isn't a gap of more than 6 months among the ENTIRE CLASS".

In other words, (2) tells us that the RANGE of the set is at most 6 months - every data point is within a 6 month range.

Similiarly for (1):
The difference between the ages of any two students in class A is always more than 1 year.
In this case, we are talking about consecutive student ages - since every pair of students must be more than a year apart, we'll have a total range greater than 5 years (5 gaps of 1+ years each).

So, when we combine the statements, we know that Class 2 has a tight range of data points and Class 1 has a wide spread of data points: Class 1 will definitely have a greater SD: choose (C).
Image

Stuart Kovinsky | Kaplan GMAT Faculty | Toronto

Kaplan Exclusive: The Official Test Day Experience | Ready to Take a Free Practice Test? | Kaplan/Beat the GMAT Member Discount
BTG100 for $100 off a full course

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 49
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2009 9:58 am
Thanked: 3 times

by svishal1123 » Sun Apr 19, 2009 11:20 am
Thanks Stuart !!!! clear now.

I had one doubt regarding my own approach.
Do we get such questions in GMAT which involve calculating so many values and going so deep into the question?

Is it fair to assume that if the approach is so long and complicated it is perhaps wrong?

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 3225
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:40 pm
Location: Toronto
Thanked: 1710 times
Followed by:614 members
GMAT Score:800

by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Sun Apr 19, 2009 11:32 am
svishal1123 wrote:Thanks Stuart !!!! clear now.

I had one doubt regarding my own approach.
Do we get such questions in GMAT which involve calculating so many values and going so deep into the question?

Is it fair to assume that if the approach is so long and complicated it is perhaps wrong?
Great question!

Regarding standard deviation, you should never have to do a lot of detailed calculations. The most complicated I've ever seen is when you're given the SD for a set and have to determine if a specific data point is within a certain number of SDs.

For example:

The SD for the scores on a certain math test is 8. If the average score is 64, which of the following scores is between 1 and 2 SDs from the mean?

a) 43
b) 49
c) 58
d) 71
e) 86

Since we know that 1 SD is 8, we can graph the SD ranges (you start in the middle and work your way out):

Avg: 64
1 SD away: 56 low, 72 high
2 SDs away: 48 low, 80 high

So, any score between 48 and 56 or 72 and 80 would be between 1 and 2 SDs from the mean: choose (b).

As you can see, the math for this question involves adding and subtracting "8" from 64 - not very high level at all.

We can also apply your question to the GMAT in general. If you ever find yourself doing a ton of calculations, you've almost certainly missed a more creative and time efficient approach to a problem.
Image

Stuart Kovinsky | Kaplan GMAT Faculty | Toronto

Kaplan Exclusive: The Official Test Day Experience | Ready to Take a Free Practice Test? | Kaplan/Beat the GMAT Member Discount
BTG100 for $100 off a full course