Data Sufficiency

Marcia's bucket can hold a maximum of how many
liters of water?

(1) The bucket currently contains 9 liters of water.
(2) If 3 liters of water are added to the bucket when
it is half full of water, the amount of water in the
bucket will increase by 1/3

My answer is coming 9 lts however the answer given is 18 lts. What fail to understand is when the increase in level of bucket is due to the water added then why 3 = 1 /3x wrong.

[email protected] wrote:Marcia's bucket can hold a maximum of how many
liters of water?

(1) The bucket currently contains 9 liters of water.
(2) If 3 liters of water are added to the bucket when
it is half full of water, the amount of water in the
bucket will increase by 1/3

My answer is coming 9 lts however the answer given is 18 lts. What fail to understand is when the increase in level of bucket is due to the water added then why 3 = 1 /3x wrong.

Statement 1 is clearly insufficient: the current volume tells us nothing about the capacity of the bucket.
Statement 2 implies that the 3 liters being added are equal to 1/3 of the water in the bucket:
3 = (1/3)w
w = 9.
Since the bucket contains 9 liters and is half-full, the capacity of the bucket is 18 liters.
SUFFICIENT.

The correct answer is B.

Statement 1 - Not Sufficient - No information is provided regarding the maximum capacity of the bucket.

Statement 2

Let the bucket capacity = x

According to the question,

Bucket is half full = x/2 (Given)

Adding 3 liters of water = x/2 + 3
Now,
Bucket is half full + 3 liters of water added = Amount of water in the bucket will increase by 1/3 (Note: Initial amount of water in the bucket is x/2: Given)

Hint - (1/3 increase of the original value => 4/3 of the original value)

x/2+3=x/2*4/3

solve for x, Answer = 18 - "SUFFICIENT"

Key here is to break down the statements step by step.

My bad!! forgot to double the level of water from half filled to full.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

[email protected] wrote:Marcia's bucket can hold a maximum of how many
liters of water?

(1) The bucket currently contains 9 liters of water.
(2) If 3 liters of water are added to the bucket when
it is half full of water, the amount of water in the
bucket will increase by 1/3

My answer is coming 9 lts however the answer given is 18 lts. What fail to understand is when the increase in level of bucket is due to the water added then why 3 = 1 /3x wrong.

Statement 1 is clearly insufficient: the current volume tells us nothing about the capacity of the bucket.
Statement 2 implies that the 3 liters being added are equal to 1/3 of the water in the bucket:
3 = (1/3)w
w = 9.
Since the bucket contains 9 liters and is half-full, the capacity of the bucket is 18 liters.
SUFFICIENT.

The correct answer is B.