In a certain class, one student is to be selected at random.

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In a certain class, one student is to be selected at random to read. what's the probability that a boy will read.

(1) Two-thirds or the students in the class are boys
(2) Ten of the students in the class are girls

The answer is A (first statement alone is sufficient). Why?

Thanks.

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by papgust » Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:30 pm
(1) 2/3 are boys and 1/3 are girls.

Whenever you have fractions like this, this is sufficient to answer probability.

Let's say class strength is 100, Boys are 66 and girls are 34. Probability that a boy will read is 66/100 = 2/3 approx.
OR
Let's say class strength is 48, Boys are 32 and girls are 16. Probability that a boy will read is 32/48 = 2/3.

Probability will always be same whatever numbers you plug in for this ratio. So, when you have ratios such as this, it will be sufficient to answer.

(2) I guess you are comfortable why (2) is insufficient.

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by papgust » Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:31 pm
Btw, Moved to Data Sufficiency folder

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by kstv » Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:52 pm
In a certain class, one student is to be selected at random to read. what's the probability that a boy will read.
(1) Two-thirds or the students in the class are boys
(2) Ten of the students in the class are girls
Probability of an event= Possible ways the event can happen/ Total possibility
To choose a boy we need to know how many boys are there and class size. Mind you the ratio will do.
2/3 say that if the class size is 3 no of boys are 2. Sufficient.
(2) No of boys known, but class size not known. Insufficient.

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by siddhans » Tue May 31, 2011 3:43 pm
In second case we know the number of girls are 10 . So can we not find out the number of boys ? which will be 2/3 * 10 = 20 . SO total class is of size 30 and probability that a boy will read is 20/30 = 2/3 ?


Isnt it ? So C should be correct ?? Please explain

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by SoCan » Tue May 31, 2011 4:20 pm
siddhans wrote:In second case we know the number of girls are 10 . So can we not find out the number of boys ? which will be 2/3 * 10 = 20 . SO total class is of size 30 and probability that a boy will read is 20/30 = 2/3 ?


Isnt it ? So C should be correct ?? Please explain
Be careful not to include information from statement 1 when you're evaluating statement 2 on its own. The question stem does not give any information on the size or gender mix. Statement 2 only states that there are 10 girls. You don't have any information about the boys.

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by siddhans » Tue May 31, 2011 4:41 pm
But how will C ever be an answer choice then? When do we evaluate both the choices together to find an answer? I am confused

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by SoCan » Tue May 31, 2011 4:49 pm
siddhans wrote:But how will C ever be an answer choice then? When do we evaluate both the choices together to find an answer? I am confused
You should review the basics of DS questions. Do you have the OG or any other prep materials?

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by siddhans » Tue May 31, 2011 4:50 pm
Yes, i do...

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siddhans wrote:Yes, i do...
I would review that section. This tree is pretty helpful
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by siddhans » Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:44 am
Thanks i reviewed and practiced some questions and got the hang of it now ;) thanks everyone

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by Jeff@TargetTestPrep » Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:47 pm
TheGuest wrote:In a certain class, one student is to be selected at random to read. what's the probability that a boy will read.

(1) Two-thirds or the students in the class are boys
(2) Ten of the students in the class are girls
We need to determine the probability that a boy will be selected to read, in a class of boys and girls.

Statement One Alone:

Two-thirds of the students in the class are boys.

Since we know that 2/3 of the class are boys, we know that the probability of randomly selecting a boy to read is 2/3. Statement one alone is sufficient to answer the question.
Statement Two Alone:

Ten of the students in the class are girls.

Without knowing the number of boys in the class, we cannot determine the probability that a boy will be selected to read. Statement two alone is not sufficient to answer the question.

Answer: A

Jeffrey Miller
Head of GMAT Instruction
[email protected]

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