Data Sufficiency

Vincen wrote:If Carla, Nora, and Wanda have a total of $48, how much money does Carla have?

(1) The positive difference between the amounts of money that Carla and Nora have is $12.
(2) Nora and Wanda have the same amount of money.

Target question: How much money does Carla have?

Given: Carla, Nora, and Wanda have a total of $48

Statement 1: The positive difference between the amounts of money that Carla and Nora have is $12.
Since we have no information about Wanda, there's no way to use this information to answer the target question
So, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statement 2: Nora and Wanda have the same amount of money.
No information about Carla.
So, statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statements 1 and 2 combined
Statement 2 tells us that Nora and Wanda have the SAME amount of money.
Let x = Nora's money
So, x = Wanda's money

Statement 1 tells us that The positive difference between the amounts of money that Carla and Nora have is $12
So, EITHER Carla has $12 more than Nora, OR Carla has $12 less than Nora

Let's examine each possible case:
Case a: Carla has $12 more than Nora. Since x = Nora's money, we can see that x+12 = Carla's money. We're told that the 3 people have a total of $48
So, we can write: x + x + (x+12) = 48. Solve to get: x = 12. This means Nora and Wanda have $12 each and Carla has $24

Case b: Carla has $12 less than Nora. Since x = Nora's money, we can see that x-12 = Carla's money. We're told that the 3 people have a total of $48
So, we can write: x + x + (x-12) = 48. Solve to get: x = 20. This means Nora and Wanda have $20 each and Carla has $8

Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, the combined statements are NOT SUFFICIENT

Answer: E

Cheers,
Brent