vinni.k wrote:Piper bought three shirts. The three shirts cost $210 in total, not including sales tax. What was the cost of the most expensive shirt?

(1) One shirt was twice as expensive as exactly one of the other shirts.
(2) One shirt cost one-half as much as exactly one of the other shirts.

IMPORTANT: Notice that statements 1 and 2 provide the EXACT SAME INFORMATION.
When this occurs, the correct answer is either D or E
Since the information is so sparse, I have a feeling that the correct answer is E. So, I'm going to try to find two possible cases that satisfy both statements, yet yield conflicting answers to the target question.

Target question: What was the cost of the most expensive shirt?

Given: The three shirts cost $210 in total

Statements 1 and 2 combined
There are several scenarios that satisfy BOTH statements. Here are two:
Case a: The prices of the three shirts are $10, $20, $180. In this case, the answer to the target question is the most expensive shirt costs $180
Case b: The prices of the three shirts are $20, $40, $150. In this case, the answer to the target question is the most expensive shirt costs $150
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, the combined statements are NOT SUFFICIENT

Answer: E

Cheers,
Brent